"Animals, Birds & Butterflies" Free Painting Tutorial Playlist Update on YouTube!

We've recently updated our free "Animals, Birds & Butterflies Free Acrylic Painting Tutorials" Playlist on YouTube! You can also find more exclusive Animal themed painting tutorials on our Patreon. :) http://patreon.com/angelafineart

 

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"Butterfly & Insect Acrylic Painting Tutorials" Playlist on Youtube by Angela Anderson!

With spring coming up, we wanted to share this playlist we've made of our free Butterfly & Insect Painting Tutorials! Hope you enjoy. :) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXKApvc4qSPDlQMWzkFciJNUNxPm3R0yt

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Swallowtail Butterfly - Acrylic Painting Tutorial Videos #LoveSummerArt

Ever have one of those days when nothing seems to want to happen easily? Even the simplest tasks seem like the universe has conspired to complicate?  Welcome to my world!!  OK, granted, I could have saved some of the frustration I am about to spill if I had planned ahead a little bit. But in my defense, I had been finishing the remodel of my studio and I had not had time to film and edit my newest video until the last minute.  It was perfect storm of procrastination and frustration.

It really is a miracle the videos were released on time. I just barely finished my studio renovation the week before the July 17th-20th deadline for the #LoveSummerArt event and I purchased a new computer to make the editing go faster. Yeah right, faster, well my fancy, new, super-speedy computer did not come with Wifi, or an SD card reader, or the CD drive plugged in, or the proper monitor cords, or speakers, you get the idea! It was a lesson in patience for sure.  Thank the Lord I have 3 computer savvy men at my disposal or I might have had a meltdown.  So needless to say, it took almost all week just to get the proper computer parts ordered and functioning.

So, as it turned out, my editing had to be done the day before the release.  Oh, and did I mention I decided to do a first ever fine art tutorial?? No? Well, instead of a regular 30 min. or hour long tutorial, I had 5 hours of recorded video to edit.  5 bleeping hours!  Oh, and did I also mention that my camcorder decided to go on super hi-def mode and filled my 2G SD card every 30 min. or so? So that I had to stop recording and upload it (to my old laptop because, of course, my new SD card reader was not in yet, which meant that once I was ready to edit I had to transfer all 10 sections of video over to my new computer). Are you exhausted just reading this. I am! Ok, I am done griping. I won't even mention the editing because, well, just don't get me started.

So here you go. I hope it meets muster. And if the butterfly drawing video has my left hand on the right side, well, sorry but we will just have to deal with it. Try watching it in the mirror. ;)

And the Speed Version. If only I could paint this fast!

Butterfly Paintings Calendar 2012 - Please Vote!

Voting is now open for this week's Spoonflower fabric contest.  The theme for this week is a 2012 calendar tea towel (on a fat quarter). I used my butterfly paintings to make my design.  Please stop by the link below and vote if you get a minute.  Voting ends Wednesday, Nov. 16th.  Thanks!

Kid's Painting Class - Butterflies

Today we worked on some butterflies in my kid's painting class. Yesterday we did the backgrounds on the canvases using plastic wrap on the wet paint to give them fun texture.

The girls drew their butterflies and transfered them onto canvas with graphite paper then used paint and water soluble pencils to add fine details.  I think they turned out amazing!  The oldest in the class is 10 and the youngest is 7!  Pretty amazing talent!

New Life Butterfly Painting

I love the symbolism of the butterfly transforming from an ugly and apparently lifeless chrysalis into something so beautiful. This was painted during a 1 1/2 hour worship service at Fellowship of Christians in Russellville, AR. 

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New Butterfly Paintings on Etsy

I just added two new mini canvases to my Etsy shop.   Each original painting measures 4"x6".

NewYouTube Video! Acrylic Paintings by Angela Anderson

I thought it would be good to have a video of my portfolio.  When I found this song "Painting Pictures" by Adele I knew it would be perfect.  Hope you enjoy!

New Business Cards

I decided to update my business cards and use my photoshop program to do a collage of my paintings on the cards.   I had fun with it and did a vertical design filled with images from several different paintings.

 I found some of the old cards to show how the design has changed over the last few years.  I may go back and do an image on the other side of the new cards like I did last year.  I really liked it and I ended up using that side to price things in several different shows.  So here is last year's design:

(front)

 

(back)

This design was actually one that I used for several years.  The header was on my website pages and promotional materials.  Most of the paintings in the header were created from 2005 to 2008, and all but the birches on the end are sold now.

Free Song by the Generationals!

This song that I used in my latest YouTube video "Jezebel Butterfly" is free on Amazon.  It's a fun, up-tempo song with a retro feel.  I got the whole album because I liked the song so much.   Just had to pass this on!

Sunset Moth Painting Video

Butterfly Fabric Now Available!

I found this amazing new site the other day.  It is called Spoonflower.  They allow you to design & then purchase your own fabrics.  I used some of my butterfly paintings to design a fabric.  Click on the fabric link below to check it out! It's a lot of fun. 
 

"Variable Cracker" Butterfly Paintings

Yes, more butterflies!  This variety is called "Variable Cracker", it is from Central America.  The top side is blue and the underside is orange.  I decided to do them as a set on 8" x 10" canvases. 

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 - 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.

More Butterflies in Progress

Here are my next two butterfly paintings. I'm excited about all the colors in these. They are a clipper (top) and a sunset moth (bottom). I know, I know, a moth is not a butterfly, but I can't resist the colors!!
Here is the finished Clipper. It is for sale at the ASI Gallery in Little Rock.

Butterflies Finished

Here are the butterflies all done. I like the end effect making the background more like aged parchment. I may mess with Jezebel a bit more tomorrow. I will have to look at it a while before I decide. Sometimes it takes me a few days before I know if a painting is done the way I want. I don't think I like the "perfectness" of the lines.

Here is the edited, finished version (above).



I changed the body of Jezebel and I like it much better. I also added some fuzzy hairs to the Swallowtail. They are off the the gallery in Little Rock tomorrow.

Butterflies 1,2,3

My butterflies are started! I decided to do three small 6"x6" canvases to try out the techniques with the interference paints before working on a larger scale. I think they are going to be really cute. You can see the effect of the iridescence in the last photo. I used blue/green, blue, and green interferences to make the color change even more interesting. It's hard to photograph though.



I still need to add some spots to the bottom wings, but this one is almost complete. I am thinking I might add the names of each below as well. Not sure if I can find all the proper names though!!
I have just about finished with the first two paintings. I think I will still play with the background a bit, maybe "dirty" it up and add shadows. The Painted Jezebel is just started.

I'm finding that the interference colors need several thin coats to be most effective. It's tricky on black because they are milky so the color gets dulled.