Beauty of Process or Anatomy of a Butterfly
There is something beautiful about the process of forming of ideas, thoughts, and art. At a gallery or museum one can sometimes see the development of a series by viewing its parts, but this process is still fairly opaque with only a showing of the final work. Thankfully artist blogs are full of studies showing their process. Below I have a series of images showing a glimpse of my process as I created three of my recent butterfly paintings.
Inspiration in Munich
About a year ago, in the Alte Pinakothek, in Munich, Germany,I saw a series of paint sketches by Rubens. They were quick unfinished swirls of color full of energy. I began thinking about how some walk by the sketches and see nothing but mere studies, while others eagerly take in how they visually represent the artist working out issues of form and narrative.
Images of my process
Like so many things, my painting process changes. The process of how I paint is in constant transition and the next three in the series have been painted in a slightly different way, although the result will be similar.
Images of the stages of painting #4-6 of my Butterfly series:
-
- A sturdy frame to stretch the canvas on (via 2×8s and lattice)
-
- A hand-stretched and primed canvas.
-
- Laying out the motion
-
- Outlining the wings patterns
-
- Adding detail
-
- An increase in detail and color.
-
- Adding a touch of value
-
- Adding a touch of value
-
- Definining the stages
-
- Finishing with touches of value, color and form
-
- The finished product.
Tags: Alte Pinakothek, butterfly, Germany, Munich, Oil Paintings, Peter Paul Rubens, Process
