Butterflies are so beautiful and their transformation is so inspirational, so why not pay homage to this amazing creature with a butterfly painting? Well, I’ve been working on this, and I’ve come up with three different ways to use acrylic pouring to make a delightful butterfly painting.
The techniques for these butterfly paintings vary in the skill level that is required, from absolute beginner, never painted before, to a little bit more advanced at acrylic pouring. There’s a little bit of everything to meet you where you’re at in your art and acrylic pouring journey.
So how do you paint a butterfly? Well, the three methods of creating a butterfly painting that I will be going through step by step are:
- Swipe
- Dutch Pour
- Chain Pull
If you’re pouring for the first time and would like more explanation on materials, processes, and terms, you can head on over to my Beginner’s Guide to Acrylic Pouring. You can also head over to my Comprehensive Guide to Acrylic Pouring Techniques for more information on all of the different techniques.
What colors do you need to make a butterfly painting?
Really, you can use any colors that you want. I chose to just use some colors that I liked. I didn’t base my paintings off of real butterflies, but, say, if you wanted to create a monarch butterfly painting, you could use orange, black, and white. As with any form of art, the only limitation is truly your own imagination.
(If you’re curious about colors and color theory as it relates to acrylic pouring, head on over to my post about Choosing Colors for Acrylic Pouring and grab your FREE printable Color Wheel and Color Scheme Guides.)
I chose to focus on the butterflies in these paintings, but you could add anything you please to make an entire scene. For instance, you could paint a butterfly on a rock or a branch, or you could add some flowers. Acrylic pouring is so flexible that you can customize it and embellish it to suit you and your home quite easily!
Materials You Will Need to Paint a Moon with Acrylic Pouring:
Paints:
- Master’s Touch Permanent Black
- Artist’s Loft Titanium White
- Artist’s Loft Metallic Cobalt
- Artist’s Loft Copper
- Artist’s Loft Old Gold
- Purple made from Master’s Touch Ultramarine and Liquitex Basics Quinacridone Magenta
- DecoArt Dazzling Metalics Festive Green
Medium:
- Floetrol
- Water
Canvas:
- 8in x 10in canvas (for the swipe and the flip-cup)
Tools:
- Baby wipe/wet paper towel
- Torch (optional)
- Fan chain
- Hair dryer with funneling attachment
- Sharpie water-based paint pen Gold
- Larger flat paintbrush
- Small, fine-tip paintbrush
- Condiment bottles
How to Paint a Butterfly Painting Method 1: Swipe
- Apply a thin coating of your base coat, spreading it evenly over the canvas.
- Pour a thin line of paint for the wings just above where you want the body of the butterfly to be.
- Continue layering lines of colors for the wings over and beside your first line of wing paint.
- Pour more of your base coat paint to the side of the colored line where the body of your butterfly will be.
- Using a wet paper towel or a baby wipe if you have one handy, swipe a thin layer of your base coat color over your colored lines, dragging the paint away from where you want the body of your butterfly to be.
- Continue swiping across the canvas until you have swiped the whole area where the wings will be.
- Torch the paint if you’d like to try to draw some cells out. (Totally optional!)
- Once your swipe is dry, on a piece of paper draw out the shape of your butterfly wings and play with the placement of the wings within in your swipe.
- Trace the shape of the wings onto the canvas.
- Paint over the rest of the swipe outside of the butterfly wings with your base coat paint.
- You may choose to outline the butterfly wings or you may prefer them without. I did an outline of the metallic cobalt and then wanted something more bold, so I also did an outline of black.
- Between the two tops of the wings, you can add some shaddowing to add dimension. I simply smudged some of the metallic cobalt color (since that was the main color of the wings) where the two top wings met.
- Using a paint pen or paint, add your body to the butterfly wings. Don’t forget to add the antennae as well.
How to Paint a Butterfly Painting Method 2: Dutch Pour
- Apply a thin coating of your base coat, spreading it evenly over the canvas.
- Pour a thin, oblong puddle of paint for the wings just above where you want the body of the butterfly to be.
- Continue layering your puddle with colors for the wings.
- Pour more of your base coat paint around your puddle.
- Using your hair dryer, push the base coat paint up and over your puddle of colors on all sides.
- To form the wings, push the puddle of paint that is covered with the base paint out toward one side. Continue pushing the paint with the hair dryer until you are satisfied with the shape and look of the wings.
- Be sure to even out the base coat outside of the wings when you are done.
- Once the wings are dry, decide if you need to cover any of the pour with your base coat color to create your wing shape. I covered very little because the dutch pour shape creates a fun, organic wing shape.
- Using a paint pen or paint, add your body to the butterfly wings. Don’t forget to add the antennae as well.
How to Paint a Butterfly Painting Method 3: Chain Pull
- Apply a thin coating of your base coat, spreading it evenly over the canvas.
- With black in a condiment bottle, draw out the outline of your butterfly wings
- Add whatever colors you would like along the outline.
- One wing at a time put your fan chain along the outline you created and pull the chain inward. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect the first time, you can always pull the chain again, which you’ll see in the video that I had to do too.
- Once all of your wings are created, you may have to pull some paint off by dabbing at the center.
- Place your fan chain in a loop down the middle where you want the body and pull it down toward the bottom of the painting.
- I then did a wavy chain pull as well to bring some more definition to the body.
- Using a palette knife shape up any areas that you want more defined and add some antennae.
NOTES:
This technique is what I would classify as a little more advanced, and I definitely want to practice with it more. If you want to see what you can do when you get really good at it check out the video below by Youtube Artist Designer Gemma 77 below:
I think it’s important for this technique that you not have too much paint. I think that is something that I could definitely improve upon.
Go Forth and Pour!
And that’s that! I hope that these butterfly paintings add something whimsical and beautiful to your home and add to your artistic skills!
As always, check out my updates on Facebook and Instagram and feel free to peruse Homebody Hall for more fluid art tips, tricks, and tutorials! Also head over to Youtube and subscribe to get my videos sent to you as soon as they come out!!
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Want to remember how to paint a butterfly painting later? Be sure to pin this tutorial to your favorite Pinterest board!
