Developing skills in any media is a process
- Value your mistakes as opportunities to learn what not to do and how to get out of them
- Take a break after each warm-up
- The intention of the warm-up is to prepare you to paint your next butterfly watercolor painting.
- However… always work on either a 4 x 6 or 5 x 7 piece of watercolor paper so when an actual painting appears you can easily frame it
- The videos are unedited.
Butterflies
Sprint 1 (Just Under 10 Minutes unedited) Painted on a 4 X 7 watercolor paper – the paper size will be important, #8 round brush. Use the colors you have. I Used Pink Opera, Phtalo Blue Red Shade, Hansa Yellow Medium, Quinacridone Rose, Manganese violet , Veridian. Grey watercolor pencil ( use whatever pencil you have to draw lightly) Paper towel, mixing tile, texting scrape using the same paper you practice on, rinsing container, and a round object to trace an approximate 3 inch circular line (optional)
My finish of Sprint 1
Sprint 2 Assumes you have taken at least a 2 hour break since completing Sprint 1 Same supplies except added an Elegant Writer water soluble marker
Sprint 2 Finish
Sprint 3 Plays with some possibilities. Items added to list: Indigo Watercolor, 5 X 7 mat with 4 X 6 opening, Greeting card and Envelope
Sprint 3 Phase 1 Butterfly Warm UP
Final Butterfly Warm Up Sprint 4
Products I used: 300 Lb Fabriano Rough Extra White 5X7 Use the same paper you use for your test scrap. #6 – 8 round brushes ( used small brushes only for small details in the end it was a #10 Water for rinsing Paper towel Ceramic tile for mixing Paint colors: Phtalo Blue Red Shade, Hansa Yellow Medium, Pink Opera, Quinacridone Rose ,French Ultra, Cobalt Teal, White or a White Marker
I used the pattern in the link below. However, you can use your own image. I recommend only painting 1 half of a full side but the full butterfly is included in the document
For other options to learn to paint butterflies I recommend:
John Muir Laws online class “New Favorite Color – Cobalt Teal Blue
Contact me for an in-person or online class