For centuries artists and scientists alike have been fascinated by the iridescent colours displayed in the natural world. However, colour as dazzling as the metallic-like hues of tropical birds, beetles, fish and butterflies has never been encountered in the art world. Unlike and unmatched by the chemical pigments of the artist's palette, these oscillating rainbow hues are created by transparent, colourless nano- structures which, like prisms, refract and reflect light. Thus making spectral colours visible via the optical phenomenon of light interference.

Until now artists have tried in vain to capture these 'natural jewels'. Now, for the first time, scientific advancements in the production of commercial 'pigment' technology, offer artists the exiting, yet challenging, potential opportunity to accurately depict iridescence. However, these ‘pigments’ (developed with the car and cosmetic industries in mind) currently remain mainly restricted to industrial usage. The major drawback, which seriously impedes their advancement in art, is that they do not adhere to the rules of easle painting.

But, as nature inspired the technology, an exploration of natural phenomena can best inform how to overcome this hurdle. Thus, by adopting a biomimetic approach, the artist Franziska Schenk has - after year's of painstaking research both in the studio and the lab - succeeded in converting these materials to the painter's palette.

Discover more about the vividly bright iridescent hues that the white looking powder in this jar can give rise to.

The artist Franziska Schenk demonstrates how iridescent colour effects of butterflies can be simulated in painting.