Borboleta #11 - Developing the Painting

I decided today to develop the interesting red plant and the butterfly simultaneously. Moving back and forth between the two. The challenge is to maintain a glass-like effect in the wings. The masking fluid was effective in allowing consistency in the background washes, and very little, if anything still seems to be needed in that area. Of course, that may change as the painting continues to develop and I may decide to add some veining to the leaf on the left, careful not to add too much detail and bring it forward in the painting.

As interesting as the butterfly is, the red plant is equally interesting and I will need to keep them connected so they don't compete for the center of interest, but are viewed as a visual unity.

Borboleta #11 - Clearwing (Episcada hymenaea)

As the name "Clearwing" suggests, this is a very interesting butterfly with transparent wings, reminding me of a mosaic or a stained glass window. To achieve this effect, after completing a detailed drawing on my watercolor paper, I masked out the positive areas of the wing pattern, so that I could wet my paper across the wing, and so carry the background through without interruption. I think there is a nice movement established in the wet-in-wet background.

The butterfly is perched on a very bright reddish-pink plant. I'll need to check in with my favorite botanist for its identification. My next step will be to establish the colors in this plant before moving on to the details of the butterfly.

I'm also happy to announce that I've reached ProSeller status in my Zazzle store :

Please take a moment to visit at KHarvill ART's Zazzle Store. You'll find more than 700 products embellished with my art, including my butterfly paintings, bird and wildlife art.

Once again, my thanks to Hudson Garcia for sharing his photography of this butterfly for use as reference for my painting. You can view Hudson's wildlife photography of Brazil at http://www.hudsongarcia.com.

Borboleta #10 - "88" Complete !

This may be my second blog entry of the year, but it's my first completed painting of 2013 ! As I contemplate this work, begun in 2012, I have to consider the symbolic meaning of the "88". I wonder what our Creator had in mind with this design. What occurs to me is that perhaps it marks a countdown of paintings for 2013. And if that's the case, then I better get busy - very busy !

My blog entry of Dec 27 shows the initial stages of this painting with the underpainting, or actually the background, since I chose not to go back into it for more detail.

I think the loose and abstract quality of the background pushes it back and brings the butterfly to the foreground more dramatically. Every painting is a matter of push-and-pull, decision-making along the way. As far as showing the developing stages, I became so involved with the piece that I didn't stop to document the sequence. I began with the foreground leaves, then added some light gray washes to the wing, letting that dry before beginning the more detailed work of the butterfly itself. Never using black from the tube, I used a combination of Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna, a favorite mixture of my mother's also. The final details were the head, legs and antennae.

I want to mention again my thanks to photographer Hudson Garcia for the use of his photography as reference. Please take a moment to view his fantastic photography of Brazil's wildlife at http://www.hudsongarcia.com.

RAÌZES E ASAS/Roots and Wings

My first blog entry of 2013 is to announce that seven of my butterfly paintings are part of a group exhibt with artists Daniel Conrade and Isaurina Maria - Sarika at Galeria de Arte Mirtillo Trombini in Morretes, Brazil, now until Feb 17.

My thanks to Daniel Conrade for the great design of this announcement. I will be continuing with my butterfly paintings, although I didn't make my deadline of twelve by the end of 2012, I've set a new deadline of the end of January. Hopefully, I can make that and still create my "Borboletas do Brasil" calendar for 2013, if not, then I guess it will have to be a calendar for 2014 !

We were in our wonderful area of the Atlantic Rainforest from New Year's Day until January 5, and I've added twelve photos to my KHarvill ART Facebook album "A Weekend in 'our' Forest", it can be viewed at the following link :

A Weekend in "our" Forest
 
Facebook Business/Fan Pages are public, you don't have to be on Facebook to view my album. So, enjoy !

KHarvill ART 2012 : The Year in Review

KHarvill ART 2012 : The Year in Review

Happy New Year and a peaceful, prosperous and environmentally aware New Year - 2013 !

Borboleta #10 - "88" Diaethria clymena janeira

I hope everyone has had a peaceful and joyful Christmas shared with family and friends !

I'm back to my butterfly/borboleta paintings, with many thanks to my good friend and amazing photographer Hudson Garcia  http://www.hudsongarcia.com . Hudson has graciously shared some of his photographs of butterflies with me to use as reference. The next in the series is commonly known as "88" because this number seems to appear as part of the wing pattern. I began by doing a detailed drawing on my watercolor paper. Next, I began wet-in-wet background washes, introducing red in the background to suggest flowers. This borboleta has a beautiful bright red stripe on his wing and I wanted to tie the background to the wing pattern. I also want to bring a nice contrast of color to this mostly black and white butterfly, which you'll see as the painting develops.

Merry Christmas from BRAZIL !

In considering a way to send Christmas greetings to our friends in the U.S. and Germany, and of course, our friends here in Brazil, we decided a collage of my Borboleta paintings would be a fun way to wish everyone a Merry Christmas ! Actually, I began by creating a "sticker" in my Zazzle store and included it as the centerpiece of the collage. 

Brazilian Butterfly Christmas Stickers by KHarvillART
Make unique printed stickers from zazzle.com.

Next, I used all nine paintings in the series to create a collage "card". Just a little preview of the paintings that will be featured in my 2013 calendar of "Borboletas do Brasil"/"Butterflies of Brazil" !

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and peaceful and prosperous New Year !