This spring's work from Katie, Clara, and Marie features a series of prints that caught my eye: symmetrical prints that resemble butterflies, created by pressing drops of paint together from two sides of paper. Katie's "Butterfly" (above) blends blues, black, and white in a pattern that, to my eye, looks like a Morpho menelaus – a classic shiny blue butterfly. Katie layered just enough paint to create that three-dimensional vein texture without overwhelming her canvas.
Marie's print "Mariposa" (below) likewise resembles a real-life butterfly, this time a monarch.
Clara's "Farfalla" (below) might resemble a Scarlet Peacock. Notice how both artists constrained the wing forms with loose lines of black paint and created ornate but unpredictable detail when extra paint gathers into intricate lines when pressed.
Yet my favorite print has to be the Shawn Mendes butterfly, "Shawn Love" (below), a collaborative product from Clara and Marie. The secrets contained in this work I endeavored to unlock in vain: "Is the butterfly meant to look like Mr. Mendes?", "or was the point to capture his spiritual essence?" But the girls obfuscated with laughs and giggles, and, like only the best artists do, reserved all interpretation for you, the viewer.
Explore the rest of the butterfly print series and other artworks created by Katie, Clara, and Marie in our virtual galleries!