Drinking Butterfly

There are many varieties of butterfly in the Jura mountains - all manner of colors, patterns and sizes. I spent a while recently with one butterfly as it went from one flower to another.
He (or she) moved purposefully dipping his proboscis to drink the nectar from the flowers.
The wings moved constantly,...
...alternately folding and opening afterwards to display their full glory.

This butterfly must have had a tousle because part of the wing was actually missing as you can see in this photo.
All the same, he's still amazingly beautiful.

Butterfly Egg Tempera Painting

Here's the finished Butterfly 10"x7" painting.


It's based on a photograph I took on a walk in the Jura foothills in the Spring. It was a beautiful day, with bright blue sky and the fields were full of brilliantly red poppies. This butterfly was out enjoying the day too, and this is where we met.

Over a period of a few weeks after completion, the egg tempera paintings continue to become brighter and more distinct in color. This is because the egg yolk, which is used as a base for the pigment, initially tints the colors in the painting. The yellow of the egg yolk disappears completely when exposed to daylight. See previous post, Egg Tempera Painting, for more about this type of painting.



It turned out that the last two photos of the Geneva Lighthouse painting were taken in different lighting and so the photos aren't really possible to compare. But here it is after it has had time for the egg yolk color to vanish.