Butterfly Smile

Smile. Life is beautiful. 

Feather: Dyed domestic turkey

Size: 1/2 x 1"

Monarch Butterfly Migration

This was a commission for a doctor who lives on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Monarch butterflies gather at the coast each fall and migrate across the Gulf of Mexico for the winter. Read more about monarch butterfly migration here.

Painted on a peacock wing feather from Foley, AL
Length: 12"

Butterfly Bush

Feather: Wild Turkey

Size: About 8" long

Butterfly Memory

For Jerri.

Thinking of you during this difficult time of loss. Wishing you peace and love.

Length of feather: 7"

Day 97: Trio

For Mom, with apologies.

I promised you an aligator for today, but it's the whirlwind of activity has been busier than I anticipated, so our pointy-toothed friend will have to wait a few more days before she comes out to play. Until then, enjoy this simpler feather design, and be careful down by the pond. Cary a big stick and be ready to RUN!

Love,
Elaine


Length of feather: 1 1/2"

Day 88: Butterfly Trap

Delicious.

Length of feather: 21"
SOLD

Day 87: Kitchen Cabinets

These butterflies are straight out of the 1970s. They look like mom's kitchen cabinets, which were painted yellow on the outside and bright 70s orange on the inside.

They were eventually stripped down and refinished to let the natural wood show through, and the avocado green appliances were replaced with beige. I hate beige.

Length of feather: 4"
SOLD

Day 86: Corn Flower Blue

There aren't any corn flowers in this part of Mississippi.  I miss corn flowers. I shall paint some later this month; It was the color of this butterfly that stirred up the memory.

Length of feather: 3 1/2"

Day 85: Bubblegum Butterfly

Nafzinger's ice cream factory was a regular destination for families with kids, for teenagers, and for everyone else in town on Saturday nights in the summer. The factory was located several miles outside of town in a corn field and it had a pink ice cream parlor decorated with giant plastic candies on the front corner of the building. It smelled sweet and unlike anywhere else I've ever been. If I ever smell that sticky, fruity, smooth scent again, I will be immediately transported back there. They scooped out giant scoops of ice cream, piling as much in the cone as was possible. There was a patio outside that had a large ornate water fountain and a live monkey in a cage. I loved going out there to see the monkey and get ice cream. It was so exotic and wonderful. A lot of the kids preferred the rainbow-colored bubble gum ice cream since they could eat their dairy treat and then end up with a mouth full of bubble gum to continue chewing afterwards. I didn't like gum, so I never chose that flavor. Their chocolate peanut butter cup was out of this world. I was especially happy when I got a giant chunk of that frozen peanut butter. SO good. 

Length of feather: 2"

Day 83: Pretty in Pink

Pink and black and white look great together. I remember that being a popular color combination in the 1980s. I had a great sweatshirt that was embroidered with over-sized pink numbers, and black and white racing checkers. It's a combination that will continue to cycle back again and again over the decades.

Length of feather: 3"
SOLD

Day 77: Butterfly Blossoms

Here's the finished butterfly that I started two days ago. I have to do the white underlay with all of my feather painting so that the colors can be true and bright. When painting with acrylics (which is what I use on my feathers), I layer a variety of colors when I want to create depth and glow. Blue or green on the surface means that there's something like yellow and red hidden underneath. It makes a difference.

Length of feather: 3" (same as two days ago!)

Day 75: Ghosts

I spent a good part of this afternoon painting butterfly silhouettes that I will fill in with color tomorrow. The whole table is filled with tiny white fluttering wings. The monochrome collection of them is really beautiful, but I've found that the more colorful my works are the better they sell, and I am in this as a business. Thomas Kinkade (whose work I love to hate--Soooo tacky I can't stop staring when I see it) figured this out, and that's a good part of why his estate is worth more than 60 million dollars. Color sells.

Length of feather: 3"

Day 29: Orange Sherbet

I used up the leftover pink and yellow paint at the end of the day to make this butterfly. Even though the feather painting takes very little paint, I still find myself being thrifty with it, trying to use up any last bit sitting on the palette that is still wet. I have small condiment cups that I use to cover wet paint to keep it from drying out as I work. If I can get a good seal, those keep the paint good overnight. When working on large acrylic paint projects, I’ll use plastic wrap on the wet mixed paints to keep them in a usable state.

Length of Feather:  3 1/2" 

SOLD

Day 16: Shoebox Butterfly

Butterflies are one of the best-selling subjects for my painted feathers. In fourth grade I found a monarch butterfly with a tattered wing and I kept it alive in a shoebox for a week. As though it happened earlier today, I feel like I have a crystal clear memory of standing in the front hall by the coat closet with the butterfly resting in my cupped hand. It relieved itself in that moment, in the late afternoon, with sun at an angle that made the wood floor and trim in the hall glow yellow and warm. I remember thinking how rare it is that one is even aware of the existence of butterfly poop, and I felt deeply sad that I couldn’t do more for the butterfly, hoping that it wasn’t terrified of me and that it’s broken wing wasn’t causing it terrible pain.

Length of Feather: 4 1/2”