Buckeye Brown
Buckeye Brown
The real Buckeye I used for this painting was in a case of butterflies I caught many years ago when I was a kid in Peoria, Ill. We were butterfly madmen back then, us neighborhood boys, making our nets out of broomsticks, coat hanger wires, and cheese cloth, held together with masking tape. (Don’t recall duct tape existing back then.)
My Buckeye faded with the years, but the color contrast was still there. I remember how dazzling the butterfly was when I first saw it, on a flower bush, my heart already racing with the hunt to come.
The colors I used in the painting were, well, just about everything in the water color and acrylic tool box except green. This was a joy to paint—purple, orange, red, pink, black, yellow, white, brown. I loved holding the final cutout in my hand, with its heft and delicate antennae. Almost wanted to set it free!
The background represents the late summer fields we played in, ringed by brown hues from all over.