Spiders today are sorely underestimated and uncared for. Most people would rather squish them on sight than take a look at them and enjoy their beauty (and environmental benefit). I painted “The Beauty of Writing” to show off the true beauty a spider can possess. This female writing made her home in the bushes of our front yard during the summer of 2006. She was very large, the biggest I had ever seen, but her beauty was unsurpassed. Every day my family would catch moths, grasshoppers, and other small bugs to put in her web. With our care she eventually laid two egg sacks in the nearby ferns. She was so docile that I could take photographs of her just inches from her web! She never tried to flee from us, but instead she waited for us every evening to feed her. We grew so fond of her…but like all insects she died from the first frost. However, her eggs survived. This summer we've seen nine writing spiders in our front yard and many more at the pond behind our house. The spider we came to love was gone, but her legacy lives on. With all of the eggs this group of spiders has laid, we'll be overrun with them next year; we couldn't be happier. “The Beauty of Writing” 18x24 inch wood panel. Acrylic. © Cara Bevan