Art Meets Nature with butterfly art

Welcome to the beautiful world of butterfly art.

Combine your passion for painting art with the adoration of one of nature's most delightful creations. It's an exciting avenue for artists to explore where creativity meets nature.

Butterflies are one of nature's most delightful creatures. Unlock your creativity with the techniques of painting realistic butterflies.

Below are links to 5 pages on how to paint butterflies with tips and valuable insights.

You can paint butterflies!

History and Symbolism of Butterflies in Art

Throughout history butterfly art has held a special place. Many cultures associate butterflies with the soul of man or consider them mystical creatures.

Early Egyptian hieroglyphics contained butterflies. During the Renaissance, there were lots of art pieces, symbolizing the fleeting nature of life.

The Chinese use two butterflies flying together as a symbol of love and happiness. Japanese designs use butterflies to symbolize joy and longevity.

In today's world butterflies are seen as symbolizing endurance, life, hope and love.

Our butterfly artwork can inspire and fascinate our audiences, just like real butterflies have done throughout the ages.

Magnolia flowers symbolize purity, peace and joy.

Begin your artistic journey with Butterfly Art

Imagine your butterfly paintings, created by your brushes.

There are numerous types of butterflies we can select for our paintings. There big butterflies to tiny ones and they come in a wide variety of colors and patterns.

Before we start painting, we need to get a good reference. Butterflies don't stay still very long, so we could use mounted butterflies or photos.

Our personal photos are best or use copyright free ones from Pixabay.com or Unsplash.com.

draw your proposed painting

What do butterflies look like? Knowing butterfly anatomy gives us accurate drawings.

Butterflies have 3 body parts, a head with 2 antennae, the thorax has 4 attached wings and an abdomen.

The 2 fore-wings overlap, the 2 hind-wings.

6 legs are attached to the thorax. All of the legs rarely show in a photo or painting.

It's easier to draw a butterfly when we know their anatomy.

The parts of a butterfly

Butterflies extend a proboscis from their mouth to suck up nectar. (not in drawing)

start with an easy butterfly

A good place to start drawing and painting butterflies is with an easy watercolor butterfly.

Five guided steps simplify the drawing the butterfly. Then paint the Monarch with five steps.

Start painting butterflies.

Embrace the delicate beauty of Butterfly Art

There are so many sizes, colors and variations of butterflies throughout the world.

These Black-veined Butterflies are native in Europe. When I saw some photos of them, they took my breath away!

They were so light and airy and beautiful. I just had to paint them.

You can paint them with a step-by-step tutorial of the butterflies on thistle flowers.

Black-veined Butterflies

vibrant, Captivating butterflies

Butterflies and flowers are naturals to paint together.

The flowers and the underside of this butterfly are not really this brilliant in real life. Artists can push and pull our paintings to suit our individual tastes.

If we want to paint imaginative butterflies, instead of realistic ones, DO IT. We have an "artist's license" to paint from our heart and imagination.

Gulf Fritillary on Lantana

As artists, we sometimes like to try various painting mediums. This butterfly painting is done with casein paint.

It dries fairly fast and it was easy to use. But its odor was not pleasing to me, so I only used it for three paintings.

The colors are brilliant and durable. For that reason, casein is often used for painting murals.

watercolor butterflies are beautiful

After trying casein, I went back to painting the butterflies with watercolor and oils.

Here, you can paint this stunning butterfly with watercolor.

Paint this Tiger Swallowtail step-by-step

The background flowers are imaginative artist's flowers.

Notice the butterfly is painted with hard edges because it is the focal point.

The background flowers have soft edges, so they don't draw attention away from the butterfly. They are violet, the complimentary color of the yellow butterfly.

The contrasting edges and contrasting colors make the butterfly the star of the show.

painting techniques for mesmerizing butterflies

Learn some watercolor techniques as you paint this butterfly step-by-step.

Longwing on a Butterfly Bush

This painting was done on Aquabord. It's my favorite surface for painting watercolors.

The paint doesn't sink in like it does on paper. Consequently the colors are brighter.

butterfly paintings are timeless

Oil paintings are as timeless as the butterflies.

They are the classic painting medium of the old masters. Oil paintings last for years and years and they can become heirlooms.

Learn the two basic guidelines of oil painting, while you paint this expressive butterfly.

Paint the designs on the wings.

Unlock your creativity with Butterfly Art

Sometimes we just want to do a whimsical painting and have fun! This mixed media painting lets the imagination free fly.

Learn the mixed media technique of this awesome butterfly painting.

White Peacock Butterfly

Your canvas is waiting for the winged wonders of life

The combination of nature and creativity offers a wonderful opportunity for artists.

Both seasoned and budding artists can express their creativity, perfect their technique and add imaginative butterfly art to their portfolio.

Explore and look deeper into the world of painting art on this website. The vast reservoir of resources is waiting to help you create your next painting.