Butterfly Pastel "work in progress" Completed

I have now reached my “More look than put” stage. I am undecided if I should do anymore work on the foreground or leave it as it is. I really don’t want to draw anymore attention to it so I am thinking the less it is worked the better.

I did touch up the two bottom daisies where tone was bugging me between petals. I also added more blue to the shadow on the bottom daisy.

The remainder of the butterfly was completed. I concentrated on light showing through the wings to bring them to life. Without the light they tend to be flat in colour.

The body of the butterfly I scraped the merest touch of pastel to depict hair. This helped to give the body more contour as well.

Mmmmmm….. more look than put!!! Is it finished? The next posting will be on my website, which will show changes that are done, if any at all.

Butterfly Pastel "work in progress" seven

Gosh the more I do on this work the more I see that needs to be done….eek!!

I removed the halo effect around the top left wing. I also refined that wing and made sure all the paper was covered.

It was then time to move onto the wing underneath.

I was disappointed I didn’t get more done today but then there is always tomorrow.

Butterfly Pastel "work in progress" six

It has been quite a busy day with Crutching some of our sheep. For those that don’t know the “Crutcher” cuts the wool of the sheep’s behind to help keep that area clean. I am the cook for the day when this job is done.

No more on the butterfly but I did manage to get some more work done on the daisy flowers along with some scrapes of colour in the darker foreground. There is quite a bit of colour in the daisy petals, which isn’t showing up on my monitor. I still may put some subtle pink & mauve mid tones back into the petals yet to depict more shadow.

I am aware at all times that I need to break up any halo effects around the larger shapes. I see one curving around the outer edge of the butterfly wing at the top. I am making a mental note to fix it tomorrow.

Butterfly Pastel "work in progress" five

I didn’t do a lot today on this piece as I am not feeling 100%. I had worked on the butterfly yesterday after my last posting. As the old brain is a bit foggy today I only added some colour to the remaining large flowers, as I didn’t dare touch the butterfly for fear of mucking up what I have already done. Hopefully I will have another update tomorrow.

Butterfly Pastel "work in progress" four

Before going any further with the painting today I decided to post a progress shot. I am feeling my way with the colours for the butterfly as this fellow is large with a 45 centimeter wing span. My main concern is that I don’t end up with flat looking dark areas in the wings. The reflective lights plus layers of different darks hopefully will bring this butterfly to life.

Butterfly Pastel "work in progress" three

More pastel was applied on the background as well as foreground.

I saw some flower shapes top right hand side and decided to make some of those shapes stronger as if they are little mauve/pink flowers out of focus.

I put the first focused flower in place to see if the depth was actually happening, which I feel it is

Basically I am flying by the seat of my pants by applying colour and tone to see what happens. So far I am happy with the way this is progressing

Butterfly Pastel "work in progress" two

My main purpose today was to get most of the background covered though I knew I would never complete it nor do I have the desire to as it will be built on as the whole painting progresses.

The first image of the background is of layers scraped on lightly. I decided to paint the flower petal next to the butterfly as well as the orange in the wing to give me some idea of the colour and tone that will be happening in the painting in these areas. The wing, I brushed out a couple of times and redid and now wondering if that is a sign of what will be happening as I progress with this fellow. The poor butterflies must be getting tired of me chasing them in the garden as I check for the transparency of colours with the sun shining on them.

Click images for a larger view.



The second image shows that I have blended some of the background to give a blurred effect plus this also helps cover the paper. I was starting to “fiddle” before I blended; hence something different moved me away from doing that (for a little while anyway). I have also introduced more purples into the background.



The third image I have covered some more of the background plus more pastel marks throughout the foreground area. I can see that I may need to put some darks back into the foliage that I have lightened near the bottom right. This means I am well and truly now fiddling and not thinking straight. Time for a break!

Butterfly Pastel "work in progress"

Work is 47.5cm high x 68cm wide.
Storm Blue Art Spectrum Colourfix

The Wanderer Butterflies are in my garden in profusion. I decided to well and truly move out of my comfort zone and have a go at painting these beautiful creatures. I may end up with “egg on my face” with failure but know I will learn something new at the same time.

I have spent quite a bit of time at the drawing stage as well as made a tonal map to give me an idea of the direction I would like to go. My ideas are not set in cement though will give me some guidance.

Hopefully the last of the daisy flowers in my garden will last long enough to see this painting out, as I am often picking them for reference.

A lush Richman Creek

I have been busy today researching and drawing my next painting, which I hope to put pastel to paper tomorrow. As I don’t have new work to post here today I would like to share one that I painted late 2005.

This pastel painting is of Richman Creek between Quorn and Wilmington in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia.

Central Flinders in Pastel "part two"

Well I think this pastel painting is nearly finished. There are usually some adjustments to be made and sure this one will be no different as the days pass.

Central Flinders in Pastel

Work is 23cm x 30cm wide.
Terracotta Art Spectrum Colourfix
Soft pastels - Rembrandt, Art Spectrum, Winsor & Newton & Unison.

This work isn’t completed by far but decided to post it for you to watch the stages develop. Hopefully I will have the next step for viewing tomorrow.

If you would like to view more of my pastel paintings, head over to my website at Arts & Stuff with Susan Borgas

Wanderer Butterflies

There are a large number of these butterflies in my garden at the moment giving me plenty of opportunities to snap them with my camera. Two examples are below.

Red Wine Please!

I have never painted glass before let alone paint with a difficult medium such as watercolour. For a first effort I was rather pleased. Perhaps the wine itself has me seeing the painting better than it really is.....wink!

Eggs

Easter isn’t all that far away now, which is made more obvious with the retailers colourful displays of chocolate delights on the shelves. I remember as a child painting boiled eggs at this time of the year for Easter.

Rather than painting the actual egg, I decided to paint the eggs on paper. I hope you like my sample here though they are without the Easter trimmings.

Zucchini in watercolour

Zucchinis are growing well in my garden so thought why not paint this very versatile vegetable.

More sunset photos

I haven't had a chance to do any painting the last couple of days to put on my blog.

As the camera is always at my side when walking in the evenings I scored two sunset photos that I would like to share. What attracted me are the interesting shapes that form from the trees silhouette


Photo taken 5 March 2006


Photo taken 6 March 2006



Click on photos for larger view.

Little Landscape

This is a view looking east from where I live. The shadows racing across the paddock has often fascinated me, especially when breaking through cloud if the sky is putting on a good show as well.

Once more this painting is a postcard size using watercolour medium.

Pretty as a Flower

This little watercolour painting is about the size of a postcard. Having little experience with this medium I did want to push my limits so that I would learn more about how the layers of colours would work. I don’t mind saying I was way out of my depth with this though reasonably happy with the way the background turned out.

Evening Walk

I had hoped that my next watercolour painting would be finished to post on my blog today. It is a bit more involved this time. If I have no interruptions today I will have it finished and posted tomorrow.

As I am a sucker for sunsets. I wanted to share this image with you that I took last night while out for my evening walk. I think I am very lucky to see the sky here where I live in its many brilliant colours.


Click image for a larger view.

Teaspoon using Watercolour

Still trying to get my head around watercolours. I really must be more cautious and save more white of the paper for the highlight and sparkle of objects. It is fun learning and will continue on down the road of gaining new knowledge of handling this medium.