The painting “Black Swallowtail on Texas Thistle” depicts the interdependence and ephemeral nature of life. Because of its relative size, the butterfly would seem to be the subject of the painting and the rest background, but the flowers are rendered with the same level of detail and in more vibrant colors than the butterfly, to give them similar weight to the viewer’s eye. My idea was to portray the butterfly and thistles as parts of a larger whole. Both the butterfly and flowers last in their prime seven to ten days. During its short life, the butterfly relies on the flowers for food to fuel her search for a mate. Without this food she will died before laying eggs. The flowers, in turn, rely on butterflies for pollination. Without that input, the flower will wither and die without producing viable seeds. Neither could exist without the other.
I took the reference photo for the painting in McKinney Falls State Park, south of Austin. The butterfly is standing on one thistle while feeding on another, a new thistle bud and a withered thistle blossom are seen above the butterfly. The reference photo tell a good story, but does not make a compelling image. The butterfly, with its grey, black and dark blue wings does not stand out from the green foliage of the background. Also, the two thistles, which provide the only brilliant color in the reference photo, are mostly covered by the wings of the butterfly. The exposed parts are too small to have much impact. To solve this problem, I added two more thistle blossoms to the painting in full view. That left a painting consisting of only neutral and cool colors. The two Indian Blanket blossoms, with their warm tones of yellow and red, were added to balance the rest of the painting and to provide additional contrast between the butterfly and the background.
In terms of scale, I wanted to paint the butterfly large enough such that the intricate color variations and small markings on the wings could be clearly rendered. This is how she announces to other butterflies that she is a female Black Swallowtail and it is what makes her beautiful to potential mates. The small size of the painting, just 12 by 9 inches, was chosen to invite the viewer to step up close enough to painting to see these details.
The painting “Black Swallowtail on Texas Thistle” depicts the interdependence and ephemeral nature of life. Because of its relative size, the butterfly would seem to be the subject of the painting and the rest background, but the flowers are rendered with the same level of detail and in more vibrant colors than the butterfly, to give them similar weight to the viewer’s eye. My idea was to portray the butterfly and thistles as parts of a larger whole. Both the butterfly and flowers last in their prime seven to ten days. During its short life, the butterfly relies on the flowers for food to fuel her search for a mate. Without this food she will died before laying eggs. The flowers, in turn, rely on butterflies for pollination. Without that input, the flower will wither and die without producing viable seeds. Neither could exist without the other.
I took the reference photo for the painting in McKinney Falls State Park, south of Austin. The butterfly is standing on one thistle while feeding on another, a new thistle bud and a withered thistle blossom are seen above the butterfly. The reference photo tell a good story, but does not make a compelling image. The butterfly, with its grey, black and dark blue wings does not stand out from the green foliage of the background. Also, the two thistles, which provide the only brilliant color in the reference photo, are mostly covered by the wings of the butterfly. The exposed parts are too small to have much impact. To solve this problem, I added two more thistle blossoms to the painting in full view. That left a painting consisting of only neutral and cool colors. The two Indian Blanket blossoms, with their warm tones of yellow and red, were added to balance the rest of the painting and to provide additional contrast between the butterfly and the background.
In terms of scale, I wanted to paint the butterfly large enough such that the intricate color variations and small markings on the wings could be clearly rendered. This is how she announces to other butterflies that she is a female Black Swallowtail and it is what makes her beautiful to potential mates. The small size of the painting, just 12 by 9 inches, was chosen to invite the viewer to step up close enough to painting to see these details.