How to paint a butterfly with watercolour

By loading my brush with Transparent Orange and quite a lot of water, I create a smooth wash of orange fading into yellow in the forewings of the butterfly. By adding Cadmium-Free Lemon, the colours blend nicely into each other. I fill the rest of the wings with colour by continuing to add water to the colour.

In the wet orange area, I dot some Rose Madder Genuine at the top. The orange paint is slowly drying but still wet. This means the colour can run into it. Use a paper towel to ensure that the orange doesn’t run outside the line of the wing. Once the forewings are dry, I use the warm blue Smalt for the hindwings.

I paint this blue in the same free and light way as the orange in the forewing. While it’s still wet, I dot more Smalt and some Payne’s Grey where the wing joins the body, creating a nice gradation from dark to light. At the bottom of the wing, I use more Transparent Orange and Cadmium-Free Lemon. Try to avoid the colours running into the blue area too much. While the hindwing is drying, I paint the body in a watery blue.

It doesn’t matter if the wing colours run into the body slightly – you can paint over that later and it’s nice if there’s no separation between body and wing. I use paper towel again to remove excess paint. I also dot some extra Smalt and Payne’s Grey in the wet area. Don’t forget the antenna, which consist of dots. Once they are dry, I add more details.

I add a second and third layer to the wing. I darken the colour with more Rose Madder Genuine and even a transparent layer of blue on the forewing. I paint the lines wet on dry with a little water and a thin point; the brush only touches the paper very lightly!

Finally, I paint the black areas and the ends of the wings. I like to paint the edge first with blue and then add Payne’s Grey or Lamp Black while it’s still wet. Because the edge isn’t completely black; with the reflection of the light, it actually has a blue tinge.