Another Work

Hello All, a short little post before hitting the road. I am about to finalise the suitcase pack and zip it shut. Done done done. Stunning weather here today, gorgeous and sunny and I had a glorious walk this afternoon. And passing by the studio, I found myself drawn to this painting in progress. Thought I would post it, so as to remind me to make some notes about it in my art journal and think about advancing it on my return. Of course on my return Lion #2 will be calling, waiting to get more paint, looking so compelling there sitting perched on the big easel in the studio. ((Earlier today I replaced the photo of the lion in the post below to one taken of it at the same stage but in better light (without the golden cast from camera flash). See below for June 17th's post for that one...))

But this monarch butterfly is interesting too. I suppose it has been overtaken by the drama of the verdigris lion paintings, which does not do it justice, so I want to do some thinking about this painting. It is painted on top of a collage of vintage flower seed catalog pages. These represent and make up the "garden" that this butterfly visits and enjoys. The pages in the collage show garden plants, tulips, dahlias, some garden tools, and so on. The butterfly wants to soar, in fact it wants to fly very high. It has chosen some inspirational words and thoughts that are painted on its canvas to symbolize its aspirations. The words are done in a quasi graffiti monochrome coloring. I want to embellish these more, and the recent work I did on this glazed over the wording and markings in a raw umber and gloss medium glaze, to "push" the letters back and blend them into the vintage catalog page collage. I quite like how the butterfly is so vivid against its drab and detailed garden backdrop.

More from the road. I must go finish the packing now. Then a bit of relaxation before sleep and have an early up to head to the airport tomorrow morning :)