Fascinated with butterflies

I was working on a new journal and already had the layout with fabric and ATCs (Artist Trading Cards)finished but I needed something to make it really pop.  I noticed that quite by accident most of the ATCs had images of butterflies- from old postage, ephemera, etc.  So I started looking for butterfly images and found some great old engravings.  I started drawing butterflies with a Sharpie marker in sizes to fit the void areas in the journal. None of them are actual species- I made up shapes and coloring based on the engravings.  I colored them all with Prismacolor pencils then cut them out and glued them to the pages.  The 3 images above are all on pages covered with hand marbled fabric made with Jacquard's Marbling Kit.  Still drawing more butterflies to have on hand but I'm thinking about tropical fish next...

Finally out of the chaos

So all the faux postage is done and now all the ATCs are finished- over 200 of them!  The floor was finally bare so I could vacuum again and I have oodles of great components for new pojects.  Julie, an artist friend, pointed out that my method for working seemed very clear to her.  It involves creating lots of small pieces of art, like faux postage and ATCs with very fine detailing.  Then these intricate pieces become part of  larger works like art quilts and journals.  These larger pieces are also very involved with lots of painted and sewn backgrounds as foils to these smaller creations.  The finished result- like the middle image above from a new art journal- results in a richly layered effect with lots of eye candy.  The structure is very simple but each part is lavishly detailed so the total effect is quite complex.