Danaus plexippus…aka….Butterfly

Since I’ve always been fond of butterflies and I really, really wanted to draw one and not “screw it up”. 



I pulled out my watercolor pencil set.  Ahhh, these pencils are just fun!    I didn’t think I could pull off a realistic type of fly.  So I decided to color outside of the box.



Originally I had wanted to make the latin name pop out in white.

Image from here

Aren’t these guys just the prettiest creatures?  As a kid,  I witnessed a huge monarch butterfly swarm on a Saturday morning right outside my bedroom window.  So, I did the logical thing and ran after them.  I was able to catch two.  I released them into my room and had 2 pet butterflies for a day.  I think my Dad found out and convinced me to release the butterflies before they died.  Possibly if I had butterfly food at home I could’ve kept them!  Haha



I saw a very creative journal page on flickr that inspired the background for this page.   Because plain ‘ole white just wasn’t doing it for me.



I really enjoy drawing this way….you know where you take a real image and then whimsy-size it!