Butterfly on Flower Watercolour

It all started out with me trying to figure out what to do for a birthday card for a friend. I thought about it for a little while…...An idea came…how about a Butterfly…a Butterfly on a Flower. See last year, I think it was a Butterfly landed on his hand, he was amazed. Ever since then he has become a little Butterfly Crazy. I think he believes he is a Butterfly whisperer, I know it sounds odd but true. So, I was planning on making this Butterfly birthday card and then another idea came, to do a watercolour painting on paper. Make the best of it was the last piece watercolour paper too. Very lucky for him.

I started with a line drawing making sure everything look right on the Butterfly and the Flower. Then I transfer the line drawing onto the watercolour paper. I wanted the background to be blurry, I used Sap Green and Medium Yellow to blur out the background, this should give it the right look I was going for. That’s the first step I took on the watercolour painting. After I did that I let it dry, to make sure that the next colour wouldn’t bleed into the other. When the surface was dry I started to add colour to the Butterfly wings and the Flower, just some Medium Yellow and I left some white on the Flower for highlights.



Again I waited for that to dry, next I added some Sap Green to the stem of the Flower and the Flower blossom on top. I then I added the Orange and Crimson Red to the Butterfly wings. After each time I add paint to the watercolour painting I wait for it to dry…this is way it takes me so long to do a watercolour. I add a Payne’s gray to the Butterfly wings for a more natural colour then just black. Although it looks like a purple colour in the picture its because of the lighting I’m using to paint by. Next I start with the Flower, a Yellow Ochre to make it to come to life. I use some Ivory Black to bring out the Butterfly. Now, that Butterfly is starting to pop off the watercolour paper.



Next thing I did was added some Phthalo Green to some Sap Green and painted that onto the stem and leaves of the Flower. Each time I added a little colour to the top of the blossom of the Flower. I mixed up some Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna and I added that to the Flower for some more depth. I waited for the Ivory Black to dry so I could sharpen the edge of the Butterfly. After that I set the watercolour painting a side to dry and to take a breather. So I could come back to it with some fresh eyes.


In the morning I looked at Butterfly painting again and I saw what needed to be fixed. I added a Payne’s Gray wash to the top of the blossom of the Flower for more shadowing underneath the Butterfly. I waited for that paint to dry and I sign my Name to the Watercolour Painting, there I’m finished. What you think?