Saturday 31 March 2018

Butterfly Step by Step

First I painted the flower and then lost most of the edges into the background. However as you can see I keep some edges...if you lose all the edges all you would get is a yellow wash...losing some of the edges keep some of the form of the flower and also lets me see where I am going.

Next I have painted the butterfly..I haven’t drawn any of this (I draw with the brush) and I worked on the body first then moving on to the wings. When you are painting like this you aren’t looking for a photographic representation of the actual subject, you are looking for a feel of it and I don’t mind if you cannot tell what species of butterfly it is I am more concerned that you simply see it is a butterfly. I have painted the butterfly in exactly the same way as the flower though I haven’t lost any edges on the body. 
I have added a bit more detail to the flower and butterfly, added a touch more colour top left above the flower and done a bit of splattering around the bottom edge of the butterfly.... Colours used, W&N cad yellow, quin gold, burnt sienna and purple, DS transparent pyrrol orange, 15x11 Arches 140lb rough.
There will always be a debate as to whether or not it is finished and my view is that I don't want to work on this any more as too  much fiddling will result in loss of spontaneity.


4 comments:

  1. Dear Judith - this is certainly lovely. I think this type of painting speaks to the heart and captures the essence of the butterfly as well as the flower. Thanks for sharing this beautiful technique. Have a great day. Hugs!

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  2. I think it's beautiful, I love this style of watercolour painting. I agree with you if you kept tweaking it wouldn't feel so loose and free.

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  3. Thanks for sharing Judith. Love the painting and the lost edges. Nice and loose.

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  4. I love this. Thank you for sharing the steps you took. It really helps.

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