Painting a butterfly….The Butterfly Garden

I have always been fascinated by the little wonders of nature: the butterflies. Painting a butterfly using oil paints was on my bucket list for quite a long time. When I finally made this painting, it was a pleasure and a challenge to make these delicate little wonders called butterflies.

Choosing a pattern while painting a butterfly:

The butterflies exist in lots of patterns. The pattern that I chose was orange and yellow with black border and lines.

Initial coloring in painting a butterfly:

I first started with painting a first layer of yellow and orange. As black is a color that requires extra attention, I delayed the inner black lines for later layers. However, I gave the first layer of outer border of black minus the white spots inside.

First, the intention was to give the best possible finishing to the yellow orange combination interiors of the butterfly. The subtle gradation of the orange to yellow was carefully painted. As I chose to make the butterfly realistic; it was important to capture the delicateness that a butterfly has.

Painting further:

When the orange yellow coloring was completed to a good extent and around two layers of outer black were completed, I moved further with painting a butterfly.

Next step was to finally paint the inner black lines. For this, I waited till the previous orange and yellow colors were dry enough to not mix with the black lines.

I also worked on the fine lines emerging from the mouth and made sure they don’t disturb the background. Addition of these thin black lines in the pattern made a huge difference and enhanced the realistic feel of the butterfly to a large extent.

So, here is a tip; patience pays. Working methodologically and not being in a rush works well for painting a butterfly.

I also gave the white dots to the outer black borders and that made the butterfly look more beautiful.

Final touches in painting a butterfly:

Even though, I used the thinnest brush to make the thin line, it was still a challenge to get that narrowness. I had to cover the extra thick part of these inner black lines with the yellow/orange hues until the blackish tone underneath went away.

The same technique to narrow down was done on the lines emerging from mouth.

All that was left to add colors and do touch up here and there where it felt required.

I took some steps back to view the butterflies from a distance and when I knew it was complete. Voila! I had the first experience of painting a butterfly.

P.S.: You can buy my painting – “The Butterfly Garden” from the gallery. To know more about the painting, click here.