Thursday, February 10, 2011

Watercolor of an IO Moth


hi! This morning I started this little painting of an IO Moth. I save butterfly and moth wings and bodies for reference.(They are amazing up close.) I'm only showing you the tiger swallowtail butterfly and this I believe is a viceroy's wings. I have more but after sometime they fall apart and aren't so pretty. I don't capture them. I just pick up ones I find.First I sketch them on my watercolor paper and then slowly paint each wing. I love the color of this female moth-I used quinacrodone burnt orange,red rose deep and a violet for the upper wing. The male is sketched in under it--Can you see it on the watercolor paper?.. and will have yellow wings with the same bulls eye.Another moth I adore is the Luna Moth.No they aren't out yet, I'm pushing for warmer weather!- and we had 2 inches of snow last night. take care and stay warm. talk to you soon,Diana

4 comments:

  1. Your Lepodoptera are beautiful. Will you have them at Heritage??
    Snow???? We had snow????? It was melting faster than i could measure it. Now that's my kind of snow.

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  2. Diana, yes I see the pencil .. I too pick up wings of butterflies, and dragonflies.. aren't they amazing? I have one on Flickr that I had for a long time.. Don't know the exact name (I'll look it up ) it was a huge moth and had 2 large white dots on the back of its wings.

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  3. What a pretty painting! I love it :0)

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  4. Thank you Grenville, I had to look up Lepodoptera on wikipedia.. thank you for educating me on that!! yes it was my kind of snow too!!Barbra Joan I'm glad to hear others pick up beautiful bugs too!!! Beauty is everywhere I just don't always see it! Sandra thank you so much, thank you all for your comments, take care, Diana

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Please comment, I enjoy them so much!