One Dozen Butterflies!

I need your help! The call for art for the next Trillium Gallery show is coming up soon. We are hoping that this show gets good traffic. It will hang during The Nature Foundations annual Wildflower Symposium. It will also be up during the Wintergreen Music Festival in July. I wanted to include something nature oriented, so I decided on butterflies.

I have this frame that it long and thin that I bought because I always need long thin frames for landscapes. This particular frame came with a mat cut for three 5×7 photos. I thought what I could do was put three small butterfly paintings in the frame together. Here is a photo of the frame.

With that thought in mind I started painting butterflies, and I painted a dozen of them. I played with different techniques. Most are watercolor and ink. Some fill the page and others do not. Some have spatter, a technique common in watercolor, but I’m just starting to experiment with it. I want to include the three best, and then I will turn the rest into cards and will try to sell them.

Here’s where my readers come in. Please vote for your three favorite butterflies from the 12 I have posted below (they are numbered). I’m very curious to hear your likes and dislikes for my learning process. You can vote and provide feedback in the blog comments if that works for you. I will also post on Facebook and Instagram, so you can vote in the comments there. And you can also send me an email if you’d like. I will share the results if I get enough feedback. I think this will be fun! Thanks!

1. Monarch
2. Monarch
3. Monarch
4. Black Swallowtail
5. Yellow Swallowtail
6. Monarch
7. Monarch
8. Yellow Swallowtail
9. Monarch
10. Monarch
11. Monarch
12. Viceroy

Update: And the winners are 2, 6 and 8. Thanks to everyone who voted!

16 thoughts on “One Dozen Butterflies!

    • Hi Cynthia, they are all wonderful. I normally like the water color splatter but at least as showing on IG, it seems to detract from the butterfly itself.

      I’d go with 3 of the same technique and composition. I kind of like the ones fully painted. So either 6,7,8 or 9,10,11.

      Be sure to post your decision and what happens at the show. I’ve been enjoying seeing your work!

      Kimberly

      • Thank you for your thoughtful response. One consideration that I have to deal with is that 6, 7 and 8 are all portrait and the rest are landscape orientation, so if I’m going to use any of those three I will need to use them all and hang the frame horizontally. I’m curious to see how the feedback goes.

  1. 2, 9 and 12 (although also liked 1). Liked the butterfly detail and in the 3 I picked I also liked how they are placed in the background flowers

  2. OH!! gosh what fun for us!!! # 5 is my favorite if I had to choose ( not easy)
    then 3 and 4 and 10…hmmm? now forgot, was I supposed to to choose 4? LOL!!!
    Good luck my friend, they are lovely! And what an excellent fun idea for you to let your fans vote! Just got a note from Nancy they arrived.

  3. Hi Cindy! I pick 4, 7, and 8. Number 4 is striking with the black and white. Numbers 7 and 8 have a Japanese feel about them and are gorgeous. I didn’t pick 4 to go with 7 and 8 so I might look again. All of them are stunning!! Maybe you can sell some

  4. I looked again and think number 6 goes better with 7 and 8 than 4 does. I now see the different styles, for lack of a better word. I hope you will sell some to the public because I would love one!! Or two lol

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