Blue Trees and Butterflies is a portrait of the most loved artist of Mexico, the beautiful wife of Diego Rivera, and it is the fourth painting in John's Mexican Heroine series. It is unique of its kind as it is the only image John has created directly from the Mexican artist's own work.

The Mexican Heroine's own self portrait depicts her holding a line on which butterflies rest, standing by the crumbling, blue-plastered outer wall of her home. John, who has a very literal empathy with the Mexican artist, related to her physical and mental suffering, has developed his own version, with the theme of 'a line of colour' belonging to the artist.

In Blue Trees and Butterflies, John explores the notion of colour and form, which takes on meaning from the artist's brush. John places the Mexican Heroine in a bower of blue trees, with her famous 'Blue House' being transformed into nature, and a stunning and subtle background of blues, pinks and greens, that seem to run in rivulets down the canvas.

John continues to explore the person of Frida Kahlo, as a symbol of the power of creativity to change suffering into beauty. The idea of Blue Trees and Butterflies is in blurring the line between art and nature, and that the colour applied by the artist, becomes the artist herself.