The Challenges of Painting Butterflies

Butterfly (c) Mary Hubley

White Butterfly Paintings

Butterfly and Lavender (c) Mary Hubley

The Florida marshes hold many small treasures -- lovely creatures like these white cabbage butterflies. Sweet insects with white fairy wings.

Trying to paint a butterfly is impossible. They move too quickly.

To get them, I'll do plein air sketches. I'll sit in the middle of flowers and draw. I'll watch them as they move around. I'll do a few quick gestural drawings. I may pull out my colored pencils to grab some of the color.

White butterflies aren't white - there are many colors. Lots of reflected color - notably green in a green field. But also the flower colors they are surrounded by - yellow,  purple or red..

Before I leave, I'll take photos so I can do the actual work of painting in my studio. While my studio isn't as gorgeous as being in a field of flowers with butterflies surrounding me, I draw from my experience of the day to create the memory.

Genre: Animals
Painting Name: Butterfly
Size: 6" x 6"
Media: Oil on Canvas



Genre: Animals
Painting Name: Butterfly and Lavender
Size: 6" x 6"
Media: Oil on Canvas


 -- Mary Hubley