CTLA-4

This tiny painting was done towards the end of my graduate studies in London Ontario. The painting depicts a metallic butterfly with segmented antenna and a very mechanical background. Where did I get the idea? My graduate project was involving a molecule called "CTLA-4" which is an acronym for something long and complicated. I was studying a phenomenon called 'long chain sugar addition', trying to understand how such a modification affected CTLA-4. Anyways, a colleague of mine had an old frame and wanted me to paint something to fill it in. The butterfly represents CTLA-4, and the antenna represent the sugar additions. How do you paint a small painting? Use little brushes. In fact, I use little brushes all the time, even in 'lab book #7, construction at site 22' which is a gigantic painting. I also hunch over and stare at the painting from a foot away, which is bad for my eyes and back I suppose but I can see the painting really close up. Some artists have even been known to use a microscope (see Chuck Close), but this is a little extreme for me, and I spend enough time at work looking in microscopes. cold press paper, 

CTLA-4, watercolour 3 x 3", 2004 (No. 1928)