Sketching Butterflies

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Hi Reader,

I’ve been drawing butterflies.

This was a whole back but I'm telling you about it now.

One of the things I really enjoy about being a hobby artist is following those little creative impulses that pop up from nowhere.

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Time for Creativity

I've talked before about finding time for art in everyday life and, because I work four days a week, I've become quite fond of my lunchtime sketching.

I take my little square sketchbook and a few art supplies to work with me and spend part of my lunch break drawing.

It doesn't sound like much time, but it really adds up.

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Butterflies

Recently, I decided to draw a butterfly.

I started with a monarch because I wanted a lovely red-orange one. Once I'd finished that, I thought, well, perhaps I should draw a blue one too.

So, I found a Blue Morpho.

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Then, of course, I needed a yellow one.

That became a Yellow Tiger Swallowtail.

And then I was looking for a green butterfly. After quite a bit of searching I eventually found the Malachite, which is a gorgeous green and black butterfly from Central and South America.

Collection

By this point I had rather accidentally started a collection!

So, my fifth butterfly became the Purple Emperor.

I now have five colorful butterflies sitting together in my little sketchbook and I'm rather pleased with them.

Butterfly Factoids

The funny thing is that I've also learned quite a bit along the way. I discovered that the monarch is the unofficial national butterfly of Canada, that South Africa has its own national butterfly and that there is a whole vocabulary associated with butterfly wings that I didn't know before.

This is one of the things I love about drawing.

You start with a picture you like and before you know it you're learning about nature, geography, colour and even a little butterfly anatomy.

And you don't have to be an artist to do this.

You don't even need lots of time.

You could draw one butterfly over a few lunch breaks, colour one in with your grandchildren or simply sit down for twenty minutes with a pencil and see what happens.

Small (but Mighty) Project

I think there's something rather lovely about choosing a small creative project and allowing it to grow naturally.

No grand plan.

No pressure to produce a masterpiece.

Just one little butterfly leading to another.

And who knows where your curiosity might take you?

I've written all about my butterfly adventure, including how I sketched and colored each one, in this week's Heathcote Living article.

Sketching Butterflies Full Story

Now I'm wondering what I'll draw next.

Perhaps I really do need that butterfly handbook after all!

P.S.

If you fancy fluttering into the world of butterflies with me, read the full article for all five sketches, the stories behind them and a peek at how I created each one.