Army Cutworm Moth and Gulf Fritillary Butterfly Watercolor Painting
Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)
You would never guess that I have a serious bug phobia. Even if you are afraid of little bugs, it doesn’t stop you from appreciating their visual aesthetic. I like butterflies and moths. I really do.
I experience great joy when making these watercolor paintings. The problem is that butterflies do not respect my personal space. It is always such a bother when bugs land on you.
So, my butterfly phobia is only tactile based. Now, I am going to talk about my paintings in specific. They are based on photographs I took of my garden. My garden is located in South Florida, Kendall.
So, if you stop by Kendall you are bound to run into beautiful butterflies as pretty as the ones I have painted. It takes a keen eye to tell the difference between all these bugs.
Only when you paint a butterfly, can you appreciate what marvelous creatures they truly are. The first painting features a moth with a cool sounding name. She is called the Army Cutworm Moth.
So, hide your worm when you see this moth fluttering about. She was resting on top of my ferns. Ferns are a good place for bugs to just relax, while tanning themselves.
The second painting features the Gulf Fritillary Butterfly on top of a Rose. She was originally on top of a sunflower, but I already had a painting of a butterfly on top of a sunflower.
So, I edited nature a little. It is all about painting what you like, not what you see. This is my ninja way, as far as painting is concerned. I think overall it came out pretty nice looking. I worked really hard on the hues of the pink rose.
I wanted it to combine well with the orange butterfly. The painting started out as pencil drawing. I then added pen over the pencil lines, before erasing them. Once I had a clean lineart, I began to work with my watercolors.
I usually start with the background. The last thing I paint is the butterfly. The waterproof ink lines help me control the watercolor paints. The ink keeps the watercolors from running into each other.
This is why I always make the line art first, and not afterwards. After I finish my paintings, I put my color palette away as it is. I do not bother to clean it. I can just add water to the dry paints in order to reactivate the watercolor.
It is amassing all you can do with a very limited palette. I think I ranted enough about my watercolor paintings. I hope they make you smile. My name is Teresita Blanco, the Artsy Sister. Bye, bye and God bless.
