Observing more through painting

Making a painting can help you observe things that you might have gone unnoticed otherwise. I have seen better and more minutely time and again through sketching and painting. Today I am going to share one such incidence with you of observing more through painting.

So I was making this painting called “Mutual Admiration” of “The Butterfly Series”. This painting consists of ten butterflies. I had taken reference snaps of some butterflies while visiting “The Butterfly Park” in Bangalore.

The painting “Mutual Admiration” has an abstract face and ten realistic butterflies. I wanted to make the butterflies as realistic as possible. Hence, the photos that I had clicked of the butterflies came in handy.

How “Mutual Admiration” resulted in observing more through painting?

I must say that while painting each particular butterfly, I looked deeper into the photos than I would have otherwise. There are just so many details in these tiny creatures. However, one little but important detail is something that was a real surprise.

This little detail was about the antennae of one kind of butterfly. This butterfly was black & white in colour. As all the butterflies mostly had black antennae, I assumed the same for this one too.

However, I still checked in with the snap of that butterfly. To my surprise, even the antennae of this butterfly were black and white. I felt overwhelmed by this tiny detail I found by observing more through painting

There was a rush of feelings of gratitude for nature. It has just so much to offer to us. Whenever we look closely, we can discover something new. I was happy to make these black and white antennae on that particular butterfly.

Observe your surroundings:

If there is one take away from this incidence, it is to observe more. You can do it by just viewing deeply, or better still, by trying sketching or painting. I am thankful that my profession of making paintings gives me the opportunity to observe things closely and deeply which I might have not seen otherwise.

P.S. Give the ten butterflies a permanent place in your home by buying “Mutual Admiration” painting from the gallery. Read the story behind adding the tenth butterfly in “Mutual Admiration” here.