Animarii No.11: Butterfly — The One Who Forgot Who She Was in Order to Become · Original Oil Painting

Original oil painting on professional watercolor sheet. Painted in oils on a half sheet (15x20 inches), landscape orientation — one of two works created to complete and close the Animarii series. Hand-applied gold metal foil in the eye-spots of the right wing. Varnished. Includes proof of sale document. Ready to ship.

She is being made. The left wing is raw cosmic matter — warm gold light, stardust, the universe weaving her into existence from pure energy. The right wing is what she is becoming: fully realized, jeweled, iridescent in blue and teal, the eye-spots catching the light with the authority of something that has always known its own form. She is not emerging from dissolution. She is arriving into it. The soul — psyche, the Greek word for both butterfly and soul — coming into being. In every culture that saw her, the butterfly was understood as the soul made visible. Not the soul after death. The soul in the act of becoming itself. The foil lives in the eye-spots of the right wing — the first place the new form declared itself fully, where the light is most concentrated, where arrival is most certain. As one of two new paintings made specifically to complete the Animarii series, this original carries the particular significance of a work created for its moment rather than discovered within it.

This painting is part of Animarii, a 12-piece series of original oil paintings on professional watercolor sheet by British-Californian artist Rebecca Papillon.

Medium: Oil on professional watercolor sheet. The paper is sealed before painting and worked in highly lightfast pigment oils. Painted image area 13x19 inches on a 15x20 inch half sheet, landscape orientation. Signed by the artist. Includes proof of sale document.

Sold unframed. The framed mock-up shown is for scale and framing inspiration only.

Framing guidance
This piece frames beautifully in a standard frame with a 13x19 inch mat aperture. We recommend a 16x20 or 18x24 inch frame with a weighted mat. As a varnished oil painting on paper, this work is displayed without glass — this is standard practice for oil paintings. Varnish protects the surface, and glass would trap moisture and alter how the colors read. Simply frame with the mat only, no glazing required. Do not hang in direct sunlight — avoid placement opposite south- or west-facing windows and skylights.