A butterfly For Mia

Commissioned by Judith Workman for her baby girl Mia

Dear Judith,

Thank you for the opportunity to serve YOU and your family by painting these very special paintings. You shared with me your person conception journey and I am honored you trusted me with your story. The Mexican Monarch Butterfly is symbolic of your families heritage, transformation and the beauty of life.

These butterflies painted for mia are exclusively for you.

Heather Opal Artwork Commissioned paintings are never reprinted for sale purposes. The commission agreement has the following benefits:

Consultation to determine if I can exceed your expectations.

Paintings are created with your unique story in my mind and on my heart.

Fabric samples, decor choices, and other considerations are provided for color matching.

Approval of the initial painting ensures the idea is being brought through fruition.

The commission process is personal. We have taken time to connect over the phone sharing our lives and our hearts with one another. I understand the purpose and meaning for the the painting and take on the responsibility of creating a beautiful butterfly painting to the best of my ability.

Swatches, Paint Mixing and Sampling

Step 1. The first step in ensuring the color pallet is on point is to use a digital editing app to select the main colors. In this case, I used Instagram! With the dropper tool in the stories editor I selected the colors one by one to create the pallet.

Step 2. It is time for paint mixing! You can see from the paint pallet, each color was created by mixing colors together to create the perfect shades of pink, teal, blue and green. *Judith, you decided you did not want black to be included in the pallet. Monarch Butterflies are typically orange, black and white. You gave me creative liberty with determining how to create depth without using black. A challenge I happily accepted!

Step 3. The colors are finalized and the recipes are recorded.

Step 4. Paint an Initial Sketch.

Step 5. Send a picture of the sketch with the fabric samples for approval.

The approval process is vital. In our conversation I learned the positioning of the wings did not give you a positive uplifting feeling. Even though the size of the canvas we discussed was square, the butterfly was to be in an open, fully visible position. Back to the drawing board!

The 8x10 Sample Painting

With a new reference photo in mind, the recipe for the perfect color pallet and an early quiet morning, I got to work on the sample. Dipping into a glorious state of flow 3 hours felt like 15 minutes. With all of the decisions already determined, all I had to do was paint. After sending a photo of the sample the one piece of feedback was to keep the background white rather than sky blue.

The Final Painting

At this stage, all creativity must go to executing the completion of final painting. This is not the time to have a wild hair. This is not the time to make changes or come up with new ideas. This is the time to create, on a larger scale, the final butterfly.

After consulting with the designer, 18x24 was the final decision on size. With a fresh new canvas ready for gesso I sought out to create a painting worthy of a beautiful nursery for a baby girl who is loved beyond measure. This gravity of this task is not lost on me.

In order to avoid any mistakes, I used a tracing technique. I ordered the sample butterfly in 2 sizes to be printed on poster paper. When they arrived I decided which butterfly would fit on the canvas best, applied charcoal to the back side, positioned the butterfly on the freshly gessoed surface and applied pressure to the areas I wanted stamped onto the canvas. A general outline relieved the pressure to free hand a new butterfly. I was able to follow the recipe for the perfect colors, follow the color placement from the sample and simply paint.

My painting technique is a cross between gesture painting and stippling. This combination means there are small gestural strokes which build on top of one another to create the image. It looks simple but it is very time intensive as each selection of color and each stroke is carefully and intentionally placed onto the canvas… until finally it is complete.

I absolutely love the way the final piece came together. I love all of the hidden hears inside the wings. I love the color combinations to create depth and how the white spots pop. I love the atmospheric background with its subtle range of white color and brush stroke texture. The markings on the butterfly were a final detail that felt important, hearts to signify how loved she is.