Blue-brown butterfly - 08 Sep 2024

Just blue and brown?

Well, no there is some silver and gold in there too. Using the Japanese paints my sister bought me a while ago, I was painting some abstract oval shape and liked the result so I made a larger version on A4. This looked like:

First attempt at blue-brown butterfly

It was quite nice, but the sketchiness bothered me a little, and I thought I should make it tidier. The silvery-blue-green patches were nice and contrasted well with the brown.

Attempt two

So I then tried again, but more carefully … however:

Second attempt at blue-brown butterfly

This was better in some ways, but worse in others. The squares on the ‘wings’ were too small and still too messy. Then I covered it in green with aquapasto and (unsurprisingy) the shinyness of the silver disappeared. Ho hum.

Again, again!

So one final time (I swear), with this being much tidier - using compass to get the circular arcs, and making the shapes much more neat results in:

Third attempt at blue-brown butterfly

Which I’m now pleased with. It might not have quite the charm of the first attempt, but when I outline it and (maybe) varnish it, then it will look very nice.