Small Butterflies

 Callicore Hesperis  8 x 10 inches,  Acrylic on Museum Board on Panel, 2013

 Graphium Sarpendon  8 x 10 inches,  Acrylic on Museum Board on Panel, 2013

Junonia Rhadama  8 x 10 inches,  Acrylic on Museum Board on Panel, 2013

These three paintings are the beginning of a series I am doing of tropical butterflies and moths.  I have the template all worked out to satisfaction, -- life-sized images with a little bit of a background or landscape, an oval insert, and a symmetrical border of stylized flora.  I may include more than one butterfly, if the male and female are different, or, as is the case with the Callicore Hesperis, the underwing is particularly interesting.  These are fairly small butterflies.  Larger ones will require a larger boards, but I will want to preserve the same format and scale. 
I aspire to make the paintings striking in regard to color, even if the build up of paint to achieve chroma sacrifices detail.  I also want to have enough compositional elements in even the smaller pictures that they won't be seen as mere wildlife illustrations.

The Callicore Hesperis is of the Nymphalidae family and is native to South America, specifically the Amazon region where, unfortunately, the jewelry trade has hunted their genus almost to extinction

The Graphium Sarpedon, often called the Common Bluebottle, is native to south and southeast Asia.  It is also seen in Australia, where it is called a Blue Triangle.  It often feeds at puddles (as does the Callicore).

The Junonia Rhadama, or Brilliant Blue, is another Nymphaidae native primarily to Madasgascar and the Seychelles.

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