Creating My First Insect Taxidermy Art Piece (Weird Art House Warming Gift)

My eldest niece has excellently weird taste in art and home decor, so when it came time to buy her a house warming gift for her first home, I headed on over to Etsy.

I had intended just to buy a nice strange taxidermy mount, but stumbled across several listings in which artists had mounted taxidermied praying mantises to appear as if they were being abducted by UFOs. It was the perfect inspiration (or I stole the idea, whatever).

I hope you enjoy this video of me painting a southwestern landscape in gouache, adding a silly UFO and a couple of saguaro cacti, and then assembling it all together inside a store-bought shadow box.

She absolutely loved the gift and I have to admit that it is my favorite piece of art that I have created in years.

I may just have to look into making more of them to sell. Eventually.