Day 2, only 28 remaining! Purple Emperor

Whilst feeling determined this morning I decided to tackle the Purple Emperor butterfly on vellum. I've been meaning to paint a sheet of butterflies for a long time now, so the 30 day challenge seems like a good opportunity to do at least some of it. It's not the easiest subject! the wings look a very drab brown until it catches the light, then they become the most incredible purple! So I decided to paint it .....sort of half brown and half purple because that's pretty much how it looks when it catches the light.

No 2 the Purple Emperor, Apatura iris (male). Painted on Kelmscott vellum. A rare and beautiful butterfly. A bit more work needed but it'll do for now 

I couldn't quite decide on the purple mix.... because it seems to change with the light. Looking at this now it seems a bit like yesterdays bulb colours!
 I tried the Daniel Smiths and the M Graham, but I don't find them so good on vellum, there's too much Gum Arabic and mixers for the really dry vellum work.... however I  decided to persevere and it was OK in the end with a few reservations, so  think it just needs a slightly different approach to the pans. The DS ultramarine violet and MG ultramarine blue gave a pretty punchy purple though, which was better than the W & N option, hence the perseverance. For the brown I reverted to W&N Van Dyke Brown with a touch of the purple mix added to it. Plus a spot of neutral tint for the darker markings.  There's a touch of orange in the markings too, so some pyroll orange and trans yellow was used for this. I think it needs to go a bit darker all over but I'll l come back to it later.

Not sure about these for vellum work.

 I'll probably do a few more butterflies on this sheet as part of the challenge. There's no particular purpose for this piece, I'm just doing it for fun. like all the 30 day challenge pieces, paint whatever appeals on the day with virtually no plan in mind.

I got carried away and almost forgot to take a photograph to show the process. You can see it's just a case of painting around the markings and then tidy up with a scalpel after. The dry brush gives a particularly good finish for butterfly wings. It starts of a bit scruffy looking but comes together in the end.

So here's the sheet with the first two butterflies now complete. I'm going to keep this painting to hang in my flat. Something that I don't often do is keep work.

The planned sheet of butterflies, I'm hoping to have about 20 species in total on this sheet.

 Last month I joined Butterfly Conservation and I been enjoying their news. It's a great organisation and doing a fantastic job! I always liked butterflies and studied them a little as part of a conservation module at university and also have this old butterfly collecion too, but finding out more about them recently has upped the interest....and of course they're such great subjects to paint.
I've no idea what tomorrow's challenge will be but it will have to be quick because it's back to work after the easter Bank hols!  

Jaded!

After another week working on the vine, I was feeling more than a little jaded! It's not far off being finished but by Friday I was pretty weary of it and unsure of whether or not it was heading in the right direction. So the decision was made to take a break, and, by way of a change I spent a couple of hours painting a butterfly on vellum. Beginning right in the centre of a sheet of Kelmscot vellum with the Swallowtail. Papilio machaon is one of our largest and most beautiful butterflies here in the UK. It is also one of the rarest and can only be found in the fens of the Norfolk Broads where the sole food-plant, Milk Parsley is present.

The Swallowtail, Papilio machaon on vellum

I really enjoyed painting the butterfly, particulary those red spots, and I think I must have been craving some other colours....it was good to get away from the turquoise for a while  Sometimes it's best to walk away from a painting when it gets to this stage. A painting (and painter) seem to go through various stages, from the initial enthusiasm with the washes, then it slows right down as the layers build, the detail stage and finally the finishing. This final stages can sometimes cause a bit of anxiety for me, when I start to question whether I could have done things differently, of course it doesn't matter because what is done is done.  At this stage I take a break and also photograph the work to explore it in detail on the computer screen, this helps me to see where more work is needed. I also turn the image to black and white in Photoshop to look at the values and play about with levels to see how the tonal values could be improved upon.

A black and white view helps me to identify where work might be needed regarding  the tonal values.

The colour of the jade vine is a very difficult one to depict because it varies so much across the plant, from green to turquoise and blue to purple. The flowers becomes more blue and purple as they age. This bizarre colouration is known as copigmentation which is due to the presence of the anthocyanin, malvin and saponarin. The flower has a different pH value inside in the colourless tissue compared to outer petals where it has a higher alkaline pH and this alkaline pH is is believed to be responsible for a reaction in the saponarin which creates the unique turquoise colouration. I tried to address the unusual colouration by layering glazes of different transparent colours and by adding a small amount of gum Arabic to the glazes to maintain the luminosity.

Tricky colour, layering of glazes and the addition of gum Arabic helps to maintain transparency

Tomorrow I shall try to finish the vine but have teaching work and other jobs to finish first, whatever happens, I have to be finished by Monday when it goes to the photographer. I've enjoyed doing it but these larger paintings (this one and the previous fritillary) require a lot of concentration. I try to paint or draw everyday and think it's important to do so but when working on the same piece for extended periods it can be tiring and I can lose sight of what I'm trying to achieve.  The butterfly painting is something I've had planned for a while and provided a much needed  break, once the jade is finished I hope to add at least one butterfly per day and aim to have at least 15 butterflies on the sheet of vellum.... the temptation of some small works and learning about each butterfly will hopefully help to drive me towards the finish line!

The latest version of the jade.....more over the weekend

A Bit of Sparkle! Beautiful Blue Butterflies

Had a busy week dropping off paintings at Westminster for the SBA annual and also picking up from the Brompton hospital exhibition. I also managed a quick visit to the Manchester Museum to see the newly refurbished natural history section and even managed a quick look at the amazing and beautiful gun powder drawing installation 'Unmanned Nature' by Cai Guo-Qiang!  
The whole time I've been thinking about the butterflies! I really want to start the painting of a collection of British Butterflies on a single large sheet of vellum, but it has to wait because I need to finish off the Jade vine first. Monday seems like a good time to crack on with the vine, which left me with today to clean the desk and play about with the paints!

I've been looking at the iridescent paints on the Daniel Smith dot cards for a while and wondering what on earth to do with them, then it dawned on me that they would be perfect for some of the butterflies. So that's what I've been playing with this morning! Not sure whether it's a good idea or not.

Male Chalkhill Blue Polyommatus coridon (Poda 1761) Watercolour on vellum

I decided to try them on one of my favourite butterflies, a male Chalkhill Blue. It's not one of the smallest Blues, which makes it a bit easier,  it's got the most amazing delicate iridescent colour and is so shiny!.....I couldn't resist it!. It seems sensible to paint all of the butterflies individually before trying them on the large sheet anyway.

The beautiful iridescent paints on the Daniel Smith dot card

The wings of this butterfly really do catch the light and the colours on the dot chart offer some  perfect matches. I opted for a wash of  W&N Manganese Blue Hue first with a touch of Lemon Yellow added. Thereafter I used the DS Duochrome Lapis Sunlight to overlay a wash in selected areas and Cabo Blue,  also where there is a slight violet sheen violet pearl and in the more electric blue areas Iridescent Electric Blue. These paints are quite light in application so this is good.

Close up of the wing showing the light catches the scales and hairs.

A quick colour test on paper first was carried out in the Stillman & Birn sketchbook, scaled to x2 to make it easier. This allowed me to work out the drawing and vein patterns in the wings at a more manageable size. The colour will be different on vellum though as it's much more cream in colour. So I will have to make adjustments.

Working out the drawing and colours in the sketchbook

 

 

Fortunately I have quite a few small pieces of Kelmscott vellum left over from the skin used for the last Fritillaria painting, these will be perfect for the small studies. I worked life size this time, the butterfly has a wingspan of 35mm so it's pretty small. I tape the vellum to a piece of cream cardboard board using Frog tape, which holds the vellum in position better than masking tape. The bright green colour of the tape is a bit off putting, so sometimes I cover it with ordinary masking tape. It's always better to tape the vellum to a similar coloured background as the vellum because the skin is transparent, a darker or  lighter background will give a false impression of the colours. Taping to card instead of the drawing board enables me to rotate the work for easier access.

Ready! The difference in colour of the sketchbook paper and the vellum is clear to see.

The blue wash was laid down first - As suspected,  I had to alter the blue mix for the vellum, to make it cooler than the original mix, so reduced the yellow and added some Cobalt blue. The veins were lightly painted in on top using a mix of Sepia and Neutral Tint. To be honest I made a pretty bad job of this! but thought it would probably work out as more was added.

Early stages on vellum...hmmm didn't look so great!

 I added the darker markings and started to add the Lapis Sunlight. I gradually built up the iridescent colours and finally strengthened the darker veins and wing tips also adding some titanium white for the white border.

Beginning to add the dark wing markings

The body added....how strange the hair looks almost dyed! the blue is brighter so I used cobalt for this. The iridescent paints were used again and finally the dark veins and leaf tips strengthened. I used a scalpel to create some fine hairs, as a final touch white was added to the wing tips.

 That's about it for now. It was a bit rushed and I'll take more time when it comes to the final piece. I hope the add the underside of the butterfly too, which is equally beautiful or the female, shes is brown in colour and not shiny at all. I might even add the food plant, Horseshoe Vetch Hippocrepis comosa, to the right hand side of the butterfly, but will have a think about it......for now I'm out of time. 

Work in Progress, adding the iridescent paint.

Heres a bit more about the Chalkhill Blue, Polyommatus coridon (Poda 1761):
 This beautiful shimmering butterfly is found on chalk but also on limestone downland. It declined quite dramatically due to loss of habitat from the intensification of farming and although the species has recovered fairly well in numbers its distribution had reduced and so is still designated as a 'species of conservation concern' under the UK BAP ( Biodiversity Action Plan), with unfavourable weather patterns causing the distribution problems. Unfortunately changes in climate present butterflies with a challenge which is altering their distribution and chances of survival. The more specialised the butterfly, e.g. only one food plant,  the more challenged they will be.
 Distribution of the species follows the availability of the food plant,  Horseshoe vetch, which is  found only on the grasslands, so the species is pretty much only found in the south east of England. The Chalkhill blue butterflies can also be seen feeding on nectar from Birds foot trefoil, several thistles and self heal, amongst other plants.
 There is strong dimorphism between male and female, she is a dark rich brown colour and although not so extravagant and shiny, she is equally beautiful,  I hope to paint her too!

The female lays just a single egg on the foodplant. The larva is concealed at the base of the foodplant during the day and as is the case with other  Lycaenid larvae, the Chalkhill Blue has a Newcomer's gland on the 7th segment which produces a honeydue secretionwhich attract ants. A mutualistic relationship is formed between the ants and the larva, which provides the ants with food and the larva protection against predators. Larvae are believed to produce vibrations and sounds that travel underground and communicate with the ants to advertise their sugar rich food source. This relationship is known as Myrmecophily and around 75% of Lycaenid's are believed to have such an association.

For more information on our butterflies, refer to
 The State of Britain's Butterflies 2011
and
JNCC The Butterfly Red List for Great Britain

There is also an excellent site called UK Butterflies