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Blue Morpho- Art Nouveau

by | Jul 12, 2013 | Butterfly Art, Costa Rica, Insect Art, Paintings, T-Shirt Designs, Uncategorized, Watercolor Tips

Paint Iridescence

Blue Morpho Butterfly WIng Structure

Blue Morpho Butterfly Wing under the microscope shows the structure of the overlapping scales.

Blue Morpho butterflies are my favorite butterflies. They are part of the brushfoot butterflies from the Neo Tropics. I first saw one flying in Costa Rica and was mesmerized by the dazzling irridescent blue. The Latin word for the Order of butterflies is Lepidoptera. Lepidoptera means “scaled wing”. The picture on the left shows the structure of butterfly wings. The scales overlap similar to shingles on a roof. Painting iridescent butterflies can be a challenge and it is one that I LOVE TO PAINT!

"Blue Morpho" - Original watercolor ©2013 Mindy Lighthipe

“Blue Morpho” – Original watercolor ©2013 Mindy Lighthipe

I was commissioned to paint this Blue Morpho painting with an Art Nouveau motif. It is a t-shirt design for Wild Cotton t-shirt company. The t-shirt will be showcased in the 2014 catalog. I had a great time working with the swirls and interweaving the leaves.  I studied the style of Alphonse Mucha to come up with this design. The painting includes the caterpillar, egg and chrysalis of the morpho. I was able to create the underside of the butterflies wings using the eye spots in the circle surrounding the butterfly.

Are you comfortable painting iridescent butterflies, hummingbirds, and shells? Would you like to learn? Leave a comment and let me know if these subjects are a challenge for you.

If you are interested in purchasing an archival print of this painting please visit my Etsy Store.

9 Comments

  1. Connie Ivey
    Connie Ivey on July 12, 2013 at 6:48 pm

    Lead me on, oh Great One. I would love not to have to struggle with shiny every time it comes up. Or anything else you might be presenting.
    Thanks,
    Connie

    • Mindy
      Mindy on July 13, 2013 at 1:51 pm

      Thanks Connie.
      I am thinking of doing an online class on things that are shiny and iridescent. It seems that lots of artists struggle with this in their paintings. I will keep you posted.
      Happy Painting!
      Mindy

  2. Carole Jurack
    Carole Jurack on July 12, 2013 at 7:31 pm

    This is truly glorious! Beautifully rendered, stunning color. I’m sure it made you happy as you were painting it!

    • Mindy
      Mindy on July 13, 2013 at 1:52 pm

      Hi Carole,

      You are right…. I was very happy painting this. It was a new style for me and I really had fun coming up with the design and then the color scheme.

      Cheers!

      Mindy

  3. Karen
    Karen on July 13, 2013 at 7:03 am

    Beautiful, Mindy! your art is just beautiful!

    • Mindy
      Mindy on July 13, 2013 at 1:53 pm

      Thanks so much Karen and Sandra for visiting and appreciating my work.

      Mindy

  4. Sandra Becker
    Sandra Becker on July 13, 2013 at 10:07 am

    Lovely!

  5. Connie Ivey
    Connie Ivey on July 14, 2013 at 7:54 am

    Thanks, Mindy. Am interested in your shiny class! That sounds wonderful. Or others. So nice to connect again. Remember our visit to the MET and seeing all of the borders of the illuminated manuscripts and how we were so appreciatively laughing that they threatened to throw us out. I thought we were the most correctly appreciative viewers, didn’t you? We “got” it. Those others just thought it was art. They missed the points, I’ll bet.
    Connie

    • Mindy
      Mindy on July 15, 2013 at 12:26 pm

      Hi Connie!
      I do remember when we met at the MET! We were with Jenny Phillips. It was a fun time for sure. Glad to reconnect with you again also!
      Cheers and hugs,
      Mindy