Second layer is done, and I am getting some lovely color to develop on this guy’s wings! I did not blend colors as much and love how there are some “patches” that are happening!
When it comes to my artwork, one of the inspirations that keeps motivating me is … butterflies! I love their bright colors and lovely diverse shapes. On top of that, it makes me blissful and calm when I think of how gracefully and easily they navigate their surroundings, fluttering through the air or landing on one flower and then the next. Never in a hurry and always, seemingly, bearing a sense of purpose.
I am lucky, then, that we have a butterfly garden in a nearby park. It houses many beautiful plants and features which draw in fluttering beauties continually during the summer months. As a way to get inspired, I recently decided to visit there, and let me tell you, I was not disappointed. The day was sunny and beautiful, and there were many different types of butterflies visiting flowers all around.
In the middle of the garden, there were chairs where visitors could lounge and take in a view of the garden or relax with a book. What a lovely place!
I circled the entire grounds several times and stopped to observe as many butterflies as I could. They allowed me to come very close, as you can see here (I took all pictures with a smartphone and did not zoom in!):
Bees were also enjoying the bright blooms and nectar buffet. Luckily they were too occupied with work to get agitated about a camera “buzzing around.”
Here are all of the great scenes I was able to capture at the garden. I can’t wait to recreate some of these beautiful things with my paintbrush!
Here is a lovely tutorial by one of my favorite artists, Alison Fennell, on how to paint butterflies (butterflies = instant happy). Hope you enjoy learning and checking out her blog. She offers some truly charming watercolor works!
I felt the urge to paint some loose and abstract butterflies this week and so I dusted down my camcorder and filmed my progress.
I hope you enjoy watching and that you may like to try them too.
Techniques and materials
I used hot pressed watercolour paper and Winsor & Newton tube watercolour paint.
Each butterfly has several layers or washes and I leave each wash dry before re-wetting (only when previous wash is BONE dry) so that I can then float in further stronger washes while still keeping it looking soft)
I call this controlled wet-into-wet because you have the best of both worlds – pigment flaring into wet paper and a controlled boundary (the dry paper)
My butterfly prints and other items such as pillows are lovely gifts for garden lovers now that Spring is just around the corner.
Check out my items by clicking on the images.