I ran into a painted lady yesterday in a meadow at my local marshland park. No, I did not have a secret rendezvous with a tattooed female, but a chance encounter with this beauty, a Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui).
The weather is getting cooler and the days are getting shorter, but as long as butterflies are still flying, it feels like summer to me.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
How cool that the flower shape echoes the wing. At least that’s what jumped out at me.
What a fantastic Painted Lady she is Mike!
Thanks. The few other times that I have sighted a Painted Lady, it was from the side only. This time it was only in the fully open position. I love the fact that the butterflies are still with us, the perfect symbol of the power of transformation.
She’s a beauty and so nice to hold her wings open for you! Butterflies often seem to read my mind and close their wings in the split second before I click the shutter button.