Wouldn’t you love to have all kinds of beautiful butterflies flitting around in your garden? Placing wooden houses made especially for butterflies will help attract them to your area. Butterfly houses are different from bird houses—the openings for butterflies must be very narrow vertical slits. They fold up their wings to get inside, and the small openings protect them from predators. These wooden houses were handmade for me by a dear friend, but you can easily buy similar ones at garden and craft stores during the spring and summer months. In this project we’ll paint three different designs on three different size houses. Place them around your garden near a shallow water source and you’ll attract many colorful “flutterbys.” Use Outdoor Opaques unless otherwise specified.
nos. 8, 12 and 16 flats
Wooden butterfly houses available at garden and craft stores
FolkArt Sponge Painters
FolkArt Flow Medium
1. Background. Basecoat the medium-size butterfly house with Wicker White and let dry. Using a sponge painter, sponge on Light Blue thinned with Flow Medium, fading out towards the top on the front and both sides.
2. Roof. On the roof, sponge on Lemon Custard and Fresh Foliage double-loaded on a sponge painter.
3. Leaves and stems. Double-load a no. 12 flat with Fresh Foliage and School Bus Yellow and paint the long upright leaves and stems
4. Purple flowers. Double-load Violet Pansy and Wicker White and paint the petals of the stalk flower with a push-down-and-pull motion.
5. Lower petals. For the lower petals, touch the brush down at the outer tip of each petal and pull upward.
6. Centers. Dot in the purple flower centers with Lemon Custard Outdoor Dimensional paint.
7. Yellow pansies. Paint the back petals of the yellow pansies with School Bus Yellow (occasionally lightened with Lemon Custard) double-loaded with Wicker White on a no. 12 flat. Keep the white to the outside edges on all the petals.
8. Lower petals. Paint the lower petals of the front pansies with the same brush and colors.
9. Purple pansy. Double-load a no. 12 flat with Violet Pansy and Wicker White. Touch into Lemon Custard with the white edge of the brush. Paint the purple pansy petals with seashell strokes.
10. Top front petal. Add the top front petal to the purple pansy, overlapping the two side petals.
11. Hairline details. Use the chisel edge of the no. 8 flat and Violet Pansy to paint hairlines on the backs of the petals of the yellow pansies.
12. Outline. Dot Lemon Custard and Fresh Foliage Outdoor Dimensional paint in the pansy centers. Outline the petals with Wicker White Outdoor Dimensional using the tip of the bottle to draw on loose and wavy lines.
13. Butterflies. Paint the butterflies’ wings with the same colors as the pansy petals. Zigzag the bodies and draw antennae with Fresh Foliage Dimensional paint. Detail the wings with Wicker White Dimensional.
Q: If I can’t find the exact same surfaces you painted on for these projects, what are some alternatives I can use instead?
A: Look for a shape that mimics the shape of the surface I painted on. Most of these designs can be altered to fit any shape, but laying out designs is the hardest part about painting. So if you are a beginner, choose a similar shape. For example, if you cannot find any butterfly houses, look for bird houses instead that have the same general shape. If you can’t find the round clock shown in the Magnolias Outdoor Clock demonstration, paint on a charger plate or a round wooden plaque.
1. Leaves and daylilies. Basecoat the small house with Wicker White and let dry. Using a sponge painter, sponge Light Blue on the house. Double-load the sponge with Fresh Foliage and Lemon Custard and paint the roof. Paint the leaves and stems with Fresh Foliage and Thicket on a no. 12 flat. Double-load Pure Orange and Lemon Custard on a no. 12 flat and paint the back petals of the daylilies and the two buds.
2. Front petals. With the same colors and brush, add the front petals. Attach stems to the daylily blossoms with Thicket and Fresh Foliage.
3. Leaves. Paint large wiggle-edge leaves with Thicket and Fresh Foliage double-loaded on a no. 12 flat.
4. Blue flowers. Double-load Cobalt and Wicker White on a no. 12 flat and paint the back layers of the blue five-petal flowers and the taller stalk flowers.
5. Flower centers. Paint the front layers of petals with the same brush, flipped so the Wicker White is to the outside edge. Dot on the centers with Lemon Custard Dimensional paint.
6. Final details. Paint the daylily anthers with Fresh Foliage Dimensional and add pollen dots with Lemon Custard Dimensional. Paint the butterfly wings with Lemon Custard and Wicker White. Make the body and antennae with Fresh Foliage Dimensional paint.
1. Stems and leaves. Basecoat the tall butterfly house with Wicker White and let dry. Sponge Light Blue on the house and Fresh Foliage and Lemon Custard on the roof. Paint the vertical stems and the rose leaves with Fresh Foliage and Thicket, adding a little Wicker White. Pick up a little Magenta and tint some of the rose leaves.
2. Roses. Double-load a no. 16 flat with Magenta and Wicker White and begin with the back petal of the open roses. Keep the Wicker White to the outside for all your rose petals.
3. Rose center. Paint the center buds in the open roses with a U-stroke and a C-stroke.
4. Front petal. The front petal of the open rose is shaped like a boat. Sweep the flat brush across the front of the center bud, starting on the chisel at the left side and ending on the chisel on the right side.
5. Petal layers. For the next layer, “grab” the back petal, then roll the brush in your fingers as you cross over the front.
6. Side petals. Fit the side petals in underneath, pulling toward the center and lifting to the chisel.
7. Hanging petals. The hanging petals have slightly ruffled edges. Keep the Wicker White to the outside edge.
8. Final rose petals. Chisel-edge some more petals coming in from each side until you have enough layers.
9. Purple flowers. Double-load Purple Lilac and Wicker White and paint the lavender petals with a teardrop stroke that is slightly wiggled.
10. Purple flowers. Flip the brush over so the Wicker White is more predominant and paint more petals.
11. Butterflies. Double-load Violet Pansy and Wicker White and paint the open wings using ruffled-edge strokes.
12. Butterflies. Detail the wings with comma strokes of Lemon Custard and Wicker White. Paint the bodies and antennae with Fresh Foliage Dimensional paint.
