Black Swallowtail Butterfly and Zebra Butterfly Watercolor Paintings

Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)

Today, I wanted to show you another set of watercolor paintings. These two butterflies I painted regularly frequent my garden. A few, I only see them close to sunset.

The Swallowtail butterfly I photographed it close to sunset. She was standing still while resting on top of the ferns. The butterflies like to hang out in the ferns often. They are a good place for the butterflies to chill out.

The Zebra Butterflies are the most common butterflies in my garden. I will now focus on the watercolor paintings themselves. I have been going through a watercolor phase. It is an underrated medium.

I get a lot done with very little paint. This is ideal for an artist who regularly works with a shoestring budget. In the Zebra butterfly, I used glitter like watercolor paints.

It gives it a unique shimmering look depending on the angle you see the painting. I was able to showcase this glow by taking a flash photograph. There was also a few portions of the painting that where still wet.

I like the paintings a lot better when they are a little wet. They tend to change as they dry. I first draw the lines with pencil, before tracing over them with a pen. I erase the pen before applying the watercolor paints.

I like to have clean linearts to work with. The butterfly paintings are merely practice drawings to help me learn how watercolor paints work.

The more practice I have with them, the better the painting is going to come out.

I think I ranted enough about my watercolor butterfly paintings for one day. My name is Teresita Blanco, the Artsy Sister. Bye, bye and God bless.