Autumn Butterfly

I had no idea there were such things as butterflies flying around in the autumn as I assumed they came out in the warmer months. Having just googled about it, they do exist! My inspiration to paint one actually came from my art class, thanks to my tutor Dieter.

A Little Present

During our abstract art classes, Dieter was demonstrating to the newcomers various painting techniques and colour theory. He then took a large piece of paper, squeezed out a few colours of acrylic paint straight from the tube on one half of the paper and folded it in half. The result was two symmetrical designs.. “Cool!”, I praised to him “Present for you”, he smiled as he handed it over to me. Now I can definitely use this cool piece!

Prepping it Up

So what’s the first thing that comes to mind with this piece? A butterfly of course! I started by sketching the body of it and then doodling the piece with some oil pastels. Having then noticed how strong the crease in the center of the paper was from Dieter inevitably folding it, I felt it could do with some “patching” to prevent further damage. I cut out some newspaper for the head and spread some modelling paste for the body. The latter of course adds texture so was deliberately used.

Let’s Get Painting!

I used Golden fluid acrylic to paint with. Firstly, the background was painted in with Vat Orange. I figured I wanted to make an autumn theme, and furthermore, combining orange with existing secondary colors like purple and green seemed like a good idea. And it was! The wings were then painted in Teal which compliments the orange. How gorgeous did that turn out, and I love it! Then the body was done with light gold which enhanced the teal wings further whilst adding some wow factor. I finally painted the head pink, only to discover that it was not a good move. Not to worry, I can always cover it with another color on top!

Making Her Even Prettier

The beauty of mixed media especially with acrylic painting is that if you don’t like something on your painting, you can always disguise it with another layer. I made the face more a skin color by combining white with Antelope Brown ink. The eyes were painted with acrylic markers (Molotow). A variety of “cosmetic tools” were then used, including glitter glue (namely along the head and on the edges of the wings), Nuvo Drops (gold necklace), sequins (crown) and Sennelier’s 3D Liner (antennae). As final touch, I doodled some flowers around the background with a white acrylic marker and dotted some Teal paint to bring the color scheme together. And now!

Here is a close up of the cosmetic tools:

Another fun spontaneous painting recreated from a scrap piece of paper! I’m honored that Dieter gave me this opportunity to work on something he had started and passed onto me to develop. The result turned out beautifully, and I would love another chance like this. Thank you, Dieter, let’s do it again!