The story of Flutter Butterfly - original artwork for my daughter

This piece (Flutter Butterfly) was inspired by and created for my [then] baby daughter, Elida.

As a baby she was fascinated by a collage I’d created for my wife and our third wedding anniversary, which hangs on our bedroom wall.

Whenever we took Elida into our room, she’d keep looking at it, with its strong colours and bold shapes. Even until the age of two, her attention would always be drawn to it.

So, I decided to create a collage piece for her bedroom wall – and hopefully one she’ll love for a long time.

Even today, she still loves anything with a butterfly on it, and creating this piece was an absolute joy – although an incredibly time consuming one.

And now, at four (nearly five) years old, as she’s learning to read, she’s discovering new elements of the artwork – which draws her attention to it again. This is exactly what I’d hoped would happen when I created it, and that it would bring her more enjoyment as time passes.

I hope that she’ll gain a new level of appreciation for Flutter Butterfly once she can read fluently and understands the concept of the artwork; from the small details, to the combinations which make up the whole.

As a side-note; I credit this piece with inspiring me to take my artwork from something I created for my family (and in some cases that only I would see), to sharing it with others.

The artwork is 60x60cm (24x24 inches) square and continues around the edges of the canvas.

The process

First, I search for and carefully select magazine pages and cuttings, giving me a palette to work from – which took a long, long time for this piece.

I had to make sure that not only did the colours work, but that the images, and words on each piece would fit the final design, and be appropriate for a piece of artwork created for my young daughter.

A much harder process than picking up a few tubes of paint.

I usually sketch the design onto the canvas, then place each cutting within the design, gluing them to the canvas. I’m trying to develop a looser style, but I guess my approach is born of my design background.

Using glue (I use Mod Podge) and paper on canvas leads to some wrinkling on the surface of the artwork. This is unavoidable due to how paper reacts when wet. But the wrinkles add texture and character to the final piece, which I love.

Why collage?

I love the juxtaposition of complexity and simplicity it allows.

I love the idea of recycling and remixing in art. It isn’t copying, it’s creating something unique from different, existing elements.

When you stand back to view the final piece, your eye combines colours and smaller images on the canvas.

You often notice something new, even after viewing the same piece many times, that you’d never noticed before.

Other collages I’ve created

Take a look at a few of my previous posts, with the Ampersand series of designs:

https://steemit.com/art/@m-ssed-t/original-collage-artwork-ampersand-01
https://steemit.com/art/@m-ssed-t/original-collage-artwork-ampersand-02
https://steemit.com/art/@m-ssed-t/original-collage-artwork-ampersand-03

I’ll be sharing more art, photography and design work in the future; I’d love to have you follow along. I have big plans for Steem and will be releasing lots of new content.

I’d love to hear your thoughts

I created these posts because I’d love to hear your thoughts – on the artwork, the style or my approach to creating art?