Sunday 16 September 2012

Gram blue

In the morning, I decided to have a quick walk to shoot some
butterflies. Because of the dull weather, not many butterflies
came out to play. But these gram blues came out in full force!!
These fellas are really hard to nail because of their non-stop flight.
Yup, they are also extreeemely wary and flutter off at the
slightest of movements.
















They seemed to like to flit close to the ground, then land
and bask with their wings half-opened. The male topside (below)
has a brownish base colour, and is strongly shot with blue, giving
it a pale purple appearance. The female is mostly brown,
but has the basal areas (the areas closer to the body) a bright blue.












These lovely butterflies are actually pretty common in
Singapore, and they love to fly around open grasslands, where
the caterpillar host-plant, pueraria phaseoloides, grows
abundantly.

The End.

4 comments:

  1. Hello Jonathan,
    I have just found out about you on "Butterflies of Singapore"!
    I am filled with admiration for your photography but also for your talent as an artist.

    Since I am in Europe (and hopefully going to Australia on day soon), I am thinking of showing a couple of your watercolours on my own blog but I will only do so if I get your permission!
    I have linked your blog to mine and will certainly be back to admire more of your work!
    In the hope of getting a positive answer,
    My sincere congratulations!

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  2. Wow, thanks miles for the compliments! It would certainly be my pleasure to let you use the paintings! Just a note, these artworks were done in oil colours. I use to do watercolors but I found it was definitely not my thing!

    I really enjoyed looking through your blog too! I loved all the fantastic pictures.

    Jon.

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  3. Wow! Your photography is amazing, but your art is even more admirable! I love art and the works you have created are the best which I have ever seen of birds and butterflies. You have boundless talent and I look up to you for that. I'd like to know, though, how are you able to paint such majestic pieces of art? Do you need any references? Also, how long do you take to do each piece? Do you sketch before you paint? Where do you get your art supplies? I guess I am more interested to know about your artwork than your photography!
    Thank you very much for reading my comment and I do hope that my questions are answered! :)

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  4. Wow Hermione, I hope it's not too late for me to reply! Thank you sooo much for the compliments. I take about a week or two for a piece, but I have to be really focused. Most of my art is inspired when I see something in the wild and I get inspired to load my brushes. I actually paint the background first with acrylics,(I use FolkArt) then I'll draw the rough sketch of my bird/butterfly in pencil. I don't stress too much on the drawing. I find it better to just let the painting process flow from the head to the tail. All this is done while staring at the computer screen or at a couple drawings- I NEED references! It's natural history and a speckle out of place gives you a different species. And I use Maries Oil Colour to paint, with a couple brushes from here and there. All this goes onto a small canvas, say 12" by 18". All from my local Art Friend. I hope this answers your questions! (Gosh, I need to do a post on this stuff!)

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