How to paint butterflies
Nature offers so much inspiration for art. I began painting butterflies after a visit to my local natural history museum in Brighton, where I was able to access drawers and drawers of beautiful and fragile specimens.
After seeing the butterflies up close, I felt particularly inspired to recreate some of the interesting textures. There are many ways to do this, and one way is to paint through tissue. This conveys some of that less-than-perfect, crumbling texture at the edges of the wings. It’s also fun, and like the best how to draw tutorials, has results that are a little unpredictable and exciting.
Working small does not necessarily mean working dry, and remember that puddles of paint can dry in a very dynamic way. This workshop encourages you to keep it simple, taking a risk by allowing the paint to do its own thing, and find new ways to make marks and textures, and enjoy the dynamic results!
If you need to stock up on materials, you'll need some tracing paper, kitchen roll, masking tape, watercolour paper, watercolour paints and gouche paints. Read More…