"Arkansas Beauty" Original Acrylic Painting by Angela Anderson

This was a special commissioned painting for Dan Fields of Fayetteville, AR.  He is adding art by Arkansas artists to his office. I was honored to be among the chosen artists.

I took pictures of my progress as I painted it. I thought it might be interesting to show the process of layering that I do on my paintings.  The first stages are always very awkward looking and I use them to make changes in composition.

 Initial Sketch

 First layer of paint. Blocking in shapes and background colors.

 Second layer. Adding color and details to butterflies. Adding highlights to flowers and leaves. I also changed the shape of the upper butterfly to a single wing (I had a better photo) and removed some buds and leaves that were cluttering the composition.

 Third layer. More highlights on flowers and defining leaves. Moved some buds around a bit and added some new elements to balance things.

 Fourth layer. Shading the flowers and leaves. Adding more color to butterflies.

 Fifth layer. More defining on flowers and butterflies. 

 Sixth layer. Adding details to blue butterfly.

 Seventh layer. Finished details on blue butterfly. 

 Eighth layer. Adding details to orange butterfly and a few more highlights on flowers.

Ninth layer. Another brighter layer of color on the orange butterfly.

Finished painting. Adjusted some colors on the orange butterfly.