Blue Morpho

Blue Morpho, 20x20 cm acrylic on panel © Olivier Hijmans, 2013

Some years ago I found myself walking along a hidden coastal forest trail at the far end of the island of Bocas del Toro, Western Panama. The heat was blistering, cicadas' chirping was deafening, huge waves were crashing on the deserted beach. Just when I thought nature couldn't get any more intense, a wonderful shiny blue creature suddenly appeared out of nowhere, dancing through the air, right past my face, to disappear before I could even attempt to follow it. It was a big Blue Morpho! A beautiful butterfly that is featured in many myths and legends in Latin America. Then another one appeared and vanished even more swiftly...

Back home I decided to try to capture the impact of my encounter with these Blue Morphos in painting. Their swift and gracious choreography, their intense blue hues, and their effortless symbiosis with their surroundings. While painting this I realized that sometimes shape and movement truly become one.

I now cherish this small painting at my desk as a personal favorite.

Prints are for sale at Saatchiart.

How I started painting

Olo Ba-te, 40 x 40 cm acrylic on canvas © Olivier Hijmans 2008

Today I felt like sharing this golden oldie. In 2008 my girlfriend and I visited the Kuna Yala region of Panamá, and its people, landscapes, seascapes and atmosphere made a very profound impression on me. Back home, I could not help but somehow express its enigma. In fact, that's what started me painting. Up to that day, I had never really imagined myself becoming a visual artist, so I am infinitely grateful for that travel experience...

The guide in the museum of Kuna history showed me a kind of flying saucer, made from two halves of a coconut and some sticks. They called it 'Olo Ba-te', if I remember correctly, and the story attached to it was that several hundred years ago, the Kuna had seen this U.F.O hovering in their skies. Many aspects of Kuna history are exceptionally mysterious and hard to trace, adding to the magic of this little slice of paradise in the North of Panamá. This painting is dedicated to the Kuna people.