Yellow Butterfly Painting

Months after starting this painting and then letting it sit before I got back to it, I finally finished it on June 7, 2011. For some reason, this date seems significant but I could not tell you why I feel that way. While I love this painting, especially the colors, there were some bittersweet moments in the completing this painting. Those moments will remain hidden within me.

Yellow is one of my favorite colors and against the blue, it really just brings this entire image alive to me, not from what I see, but from what I feel. It is simple but yet provocative. It is profound but yet it is simple. If I added anything else to it, the painting would cease to be an image. Instead, it would be a cluttering of colors.

A yellow butterfly is synonymous with angels to me. When I see a yellow butterfly, I always think of angels. Actually when I think of angels, it is more often than not that I see a yellow butterfly. I consider the yellow butterfly something that is of a spiritual nature to me and takes me from my current moment into what is beyond my realm of awareness and hopefulness.

In this particular painting, I tried to give it texture to make it appear active rather than just an image. The lines that aren't perfect, the texture of the brush strokes, the layering of the palm branch over the butterfly plus much more add to the mysterious texture woven into the painting. I won't give it all away because I want someone to look at the painting and see much more than is on the surface.

When I hit times in life where things are difficult or unknown, this painting just gives me a moment of pause and connection. It helps me to know that things are okay and one can always take off from the ground (or the current awareness) into all that the sky offers. Of course, the sky never ends and neither does our awareness or hopefulness. What we see today is not what we will know tomorrow. Our life is much more than that.




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Blog Post & Images (c) 6/7/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

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The Yellow Butterfly Angel

This is my journal recording of a dream I had this morning (9/4/10) about the yellow, butterfly angel. It is recorded as I wrote these things down. The flow of the words may be a little off, but I am typing this as I recorded it in my journal. The picture that is associated with this write up is what I painted this afternoon.

Just before my alarm went off this morning, I dreamed of a yellow butterfly flying around me. As I looked out a window that had a pasture of green grass over it, in my dream, the yellow butterfly continued to fly all around. It seemed to grow and take on the shape of an angel. When it stopped and landed, it stood upright. Its height was as least as tall as I was and it was looking directly at me.

The colors were magnificent. There were shades of yellow and almost like a red bow of ribbon wrapped around its mid-line area. The wings were unlike any thing I had ever seen. They were so rich, vivid and were full of so much depth. From various shades of yellow mixed in with reds, the image was so vibrant and full of energy. I felt protected, safe and comforted when I saw this. It was a very uplifting and positive image.

The image is unusually clear in my mind as I write this. It only came to me in my dreaming just before my alarm went off or so it seems. I am recording these moments right after waking up to make sure I do not forget any of the detail.

To me, this dream is significant, because lately I've felt the presence of an angel through a beautiful and gorgeous yellow butterfly that has visited me during my meditation times. I rarely see it any other time and it does not always appear.

There is no way I can easily describe this, but I get the sense it is an angel appearing to me much like the dream I had this morning. When I see the butterfly flying around, which again is rare, it is at the moments I've been asking questions in my mind or I just need to know I'm not alone.

I'm not going to try and analyze if this dream is real or just a symbol. The way I can still picture the vivid image in my mind after waking up is unusual for me. The sense of comfort and peace I feel is very much around me. In my mind, I know what I sensed and that's good enough for me.

Of all colors, yellow is one of my favorites but I've never seen these shades of yellow before that I saw in the image this morning. This yellow was so vibrant and so multidimensional. It matches the butterfly that I've been noticing lately. In addition to this, I was able to immediately record my thoughts.

As I record this, I feel a sense of peace, comfort and calmness coming over me. It is like everything I asked about lately is going to be okay. I can feel the lightness of my breathing almost as if I am peaceful, comforted and taken care of. The world around me looks so peaceful and calm right now. I feel that within my body, the tension in my neck, shoulders and back just let go.

The final part of the image from this morning was in the midst of the pasture of green grass where the angel stood, there was a tree growing. It was of medium height but so full of leaves and branches. It seemed to depict keeping myself grounded into the earth as well as showing me that I have so much courage and strength within myself.


Picture taken of the painting, The Yellow Butterfly Angel (c) 09/04/10