Small Butterfly Series - Green Butterfly

I finished the last of the small butterflies today.  The green one was challenging with all it's stripes but I love how it turned out.  The colors are so pretty.  Of course aqua is one of my favorite colors, so it was extra fun to paint.

Small Butterfly Series - Monarch

Here is today's butterfly, a Monarch.  It was trickier than some of the others I've done.  It is such a recognizable pattern, I really had to take it slow and make sure I didn't miss any dots or stripes.  Below is a photo of the Monarch in progress with the other green butterfly I worked on today. 

Here are all the butterflies, the green one is still in the works.

Small Butterfly Series - Red Butterfly

I started another butterfly today.  You can see the other two I will be doing in the first picture.  I don't know what the name of this butterfly is but I love the brilliant red color.  The canvas is 8"x10".  It will go with the blue butterfly I did last week.  

 

Here is the finished painting.  I still may lighten the red in the upper wings a bit.  I think it may be too dark.

Below is the final version.  I just did a little bit of subtle tweaking. 

Huge Sunset Moth Painting

I love this moth.  It's like painting a rainbow...just so pretty.  I started on it today.  I will take lots of progress pics since it is so huge (36" x 36").

 

I worked on it some more and added the stripes and dots.  I noticed that the spots are not identical on each side like other butterflies.  

  

 I did some more work on this today.  I am hoping to finish it today so I can bring it to the show tomorrow.  Gotta love acrylics.  If this were oil I wouldn't be able to move it for weeks.

Blue Butterfly

I started on a new butterfly today.  I really like this one. It came together very quickly.  I kept the brush strokes light and blended as I painted. Letting some of the underpainting show through as I worked.  Butterflies just make me happy.  They are so cheerful and colorful.

 Here it is finished.  If you look carefully you can see where I adjusted some of the white spots on the left and brought the top right wing up a little.  I love this little 8"x10" painting so much that I am going to do two more to make a set.

Redwood Tree

 

I took this photo while in California this January.  I decided it would make an interesting painting.  I started on it today.  I need to work on the perspective a bit more.  The canvas is 24" x 48". 

I changed the tree quite a bit today.  I wanted a looser, Impressionist feel to it, and I added blue and purple tones to give a more shadowed look.  I also adjusted the width of the tree in places.  I may add just a few more changes, but I like it much better now.

 

I worked on the painting some more today.  Added some highlights to the trunk to make it pop a bit.

  

Here is a closeup.

Landscape Commission

I have been commissioned by a good friend to do a large 36"x48" painting of the Ozark.  It will have a large tree overlapping the mountains.  I am almost done with the background.  I may play with the shading on the hills a bit more.  Once I put the tree in I won't be able to adjust the mountains as easily so I want to be sure they are just right.  I actually started it by covering the canvas in raw sienna.  It leaves a beautiful cast to the sky and hills where it's visible.

I added the foreground trees today.  I will do some more detail in the leaves, but the basic bones are there now.  

 

 I added some more highlights to the foreground tree today.  Also added some detail to the yellow trees in foreground.   I'm still not completely happy with them but I'm liking the red tree. 

 

I worked on the lower foreground trees today and decided to bring them down to show more of the green hill.  It was feeling a bit crowded at the bottom of the canvas.  I like this much better.