LORI DUNN SCRATCHBOARD ART
promoting conservation through artistic efforts
Be The Light
9 x 14
SOLD
*Winner of the Society of Animal Artists
Award of excellence 2026
During hot and humid summer nights, I enjoy my back porch for many reasons, but my favorite is to watch the display of fireflies where the meadow meets the cedar swamp. I’ve often wandered through the grass observing them up close, watching their abdomens blink on and off with a remarkable intensity of light. This internal chemical reaction, known as bioluminescence, creates light with no heat and is used in this case to attract mates.
This phenomenon is almost impossible to photograph well, so without the aid any references I attempted to create a scene depicting several fireflies lighting up the dark places within the grass and signaling others to join in with their own flashes. The night sky was represented minimally with the addition of the “summer triangle”, three of the brightest stars in the sky during mid-summer.
