Flutterby : Great Spangled Fritillary

Finally, I am back to watercolor painting! This blog desperately needs some colors after several drawings. Almost an year ago, I drew the outlines for this painting, applied masking fluid and kept it away. I knew it would be a bad idea to leave on the masking fluid but I lost the painting mojo so much that I couldn’t pick up a brush and finish it. I have been watching a lot of videos and browsing online on watercolor paintings but there weren’t motivating enough to pick up the painting brushes. Earlier this week, I just happened to see this unfinished painting and picked it up to finish the painting. I did the background painting first, knowing well enough that I might have to throw away the painting that removing the masking fluid could ruin the paper surface. After finishing the background, I had a hard time removing the masking but the paper was sturdy enough to withstand the abuse as I scrubbed away every last bit of the masking. I used Kilimanjaro watercolor paper to do this painting.

11by 14 inches on 300 lbs watercolor paper
Reference Photo : Rodney Campbell