Second Butterfly Painting in Progress

 For this 11x14 inch oil painting, I have a great picture reference to work from.  Thanks to Janet for the picture.

This post follows the work I talked about in the last post.  I blocked in the black areas and a quick impression of the foliage.  For the foliage, I used sap green, yellow light, white, and some of the black to mix for shady green.

 Amazing how adding the sky background adds so much to the painting.  This was a mix of cerelean blue tinted with titanium white.  I used a small flat brush to block in the sky next to busy spots and a larger flat to cover the rest of the canvas including the edges.

Here the painting is shown with the completed sky hanging from a short wire I put on it for easier handling while it is wet.

The next step will be to add the beautiful color to the wings and body.  I could have done more to this one today, but had a broken chainsaw that also needed fixing.

The other butterfly painting will be more of a challenge as the background has beautiful flowers for him to feed on.  I will work on him tomorrow.  Your comments are welcome.

Let us pray before we paint,
jimmie@jimmiesart.com

New Painting in Progress, Monarch Butterfly

Those of you that follow this blog have probably noticed I usually paint several scenes of new subjects.  Recently, I finished the two butterflys mentioned in the previous posts and now starting two more.  I thought it would be of interest to show some of the process and will post some of the stages during the painting.  I was fortunate to obtain some wonderful pictures from my friend Janet to use for reference.  Much appreciated.

Start by transferring the necessary parts of the image to the canvas.  This can be done by drawing it freehand, using the grid method, enlarging and using carbon paper transfer, or by tracing using opaque projector.  I have used all of these methods.  I like to draw my images, but the biggest time saver is the opaque projector when tackling a scene of many lines and shapes important to the composition.  I use a soft no. 2 lead pencil sharpened to a fine point to lightly trace the outline onto the canvas.Heavy pencil marks are more difficult to cover during the painting.  Suggest only tracing the major boundaries to keep it simple.  (The minor details can easily be found and put in once you start painting)   After the image is penciled in, lightly spray the canvas with a fixative to keep it from smudging during handling and painting.  The fixative dries fast so you can start painting within a few minutes of application.

As seen in the pictures, I started with the black parts of the image because it is the biggest area and will maintain the borders for the insertion of the other colors.  Also, by working from one side to the other keeps your hand off painted areas.  I worked from the upper left to right and downward.  Some artists will paint in all areas with color as they go.  Sometimes I do depending on the composition.

Now that the black is blocked in, I can work on another painting while it dries. 

Your comments and questions are welcome.  I would like to hear from you.

Let us pray before we paint,
jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Little Butterfly Oil Painting

Another "Little Butterfly" oil painting on a11x14 inch canvas.   I painted it last month and gave it to my beautiful daughter for her birthday.  Hope you like it too.

Let us pray before we paint,
jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Butterfly on Vine, Oil Painting

Butterfly on Vine, Oil Painting, 16x20 canvas

I really enjoyed painting this beautiful butterfly that kept feeding on our flowers.  This was a unique view, mixing interesting twists of the vine against the bright colors of the butterfly.  Nature provides so many beautiful things for us to see, don't you think?  I tried to capture a bit of nature in this painting,  The original is sold, but prints will be available very soon on my web site www.jimmiesart.com.

Thanks for stopping by.

Let us pray before we paint,
Jimmie@jimmiesart.com