Friday, September 28, 2007

Emu Egg Bride's Box

My Emu egg bride's box is now finished and ready to ship out. I'll try to take you through the process of how I decided on the box design. Kathryn and I had originally discussed doing a silhouette of a bride in a garden. When I actually received the blank egg in the mail, I thought about it for a good 24 hours, mulling over differnt approaches to the design I wanted to do.

I originally decided to go with a profile image of the bride, holding flowers in her hand. I visualized the background as you see it now, that never changed but when I went to draw on a profile view of the bride, it just didn't work. The egg is so heavily textured that it was making getting any kind of profile detail very difficult. I decided at that point to switch gears and do a view from the back, of the dress, veil and one shoulder peeking out. I also decided against the silhouette idea and gave her a nice traditional white , shimmering gown. I used many different shades of paint in the gown to give it dimension.

I painted the sky and ground on first and then when that was dry, I started to draw the bride directly onto the box. It took me a few tries to get her gown just the way I wanted it to look. I also really love the black/green , rich and textured color of the egg itself so I didn't want the whole egg to be painted. I wanted the bottom half of the egg to retain its natural color and I think in doing that, it makes the design more dramatic and shows the beauty and precision of the cut in the egg.

I decided to adorn her dress with Hydrangeas cascading down from the veil and lower section of the back of the gown. Once I decided on those flowers, I decided to put them in the foreground as well, as if she were standing amoung them, ready to walk into the scene.

Here you can see some of the detail on the gown. I also added some Swarovski crystals on the lower back of the dress, just above the Hydrangeas. I wanted it to look as if that area was gathered up and the flowers were coming down from that.

I did something similar with her veil, I added 5 crystals going around the back, then added the flowers and greenery from there.

This view shows the box sitting on its very pretty wooden stand. I also liked having the flowers cascading onto the lower part of the egg itself, rather then just keeping them to the painted area.

This is a view of the inside of the box which has been lined with fabric. Because fabric and I don't really get along, Chris created the fabric lining for me. He did a great job with it too. From this angle you can see how large the Emu egg is and how much it would hold. I've put my wedding ring inside to give you an idea of the actual size. I had so much fun painting this one that I am adding a jewelry box section to my ETSY site. I've already started painting another one, this time with a floral and butterfly theme very similar to the pendants I painted a couple of weeks ago. Hope you enjoyed learning more about the process.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Ruth, You described painting better than I did and the way you put it...."zen like" is exactly how I feel. Your egg is stunning! Let us know when you post some on Etsy. Have a super great weekend. ~ Lynn

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!! THAT is STUNNING! What a wonderful job you did! It is just beautiful. You are so talented!
Penny

Linda O'Neill said...

I loved reading about your work process, Ruth. You did an amazing job with this...it's beautiful! Plus you nailed those hydrangeas...and those are my favorite flowers.:)

Ruth Welter said...

Thanks Lynn, Penny & Linda...it was a lot of fun to paint. It is also fun for me to kind of catalog the process on my blog. Amazing how the original design idea ends up getting changed a lot of the time. But you ladies being artists would understand that.

Nunnie's Attic said...

Thank you so much for visiting me this morning. Your designs are so eloquent and beautiful. You have such talent!

Thanks again!
Love,
Julie

Ruth Welter said...

Thanks for your visit and compliments Julie..all the best.

Jenny Froh said...

WOW! What a beautiful egg! The detail is amazing!

Suzanne said...

Beautiful Ruth! Very stunning. Thanks for taking us through the process.... it's nice to know I'm not the only one who changes my mind when I paint! :)

Ruth Welter said...

Thanks Jennifer & Suzanne. I really believe Suzanne that as artists we decide on our approach to something the best we can. After that, once the project is started, we have to listen to what it tells us, which direction we need to go in etc. Nothing I paint ever seems to go exactly as planned, I always have to compensate for the unexpected.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful as always Ruth! I am sure the Bride and Groom will love it and how nice for them to have a keepsake of their wedding day that will become a family heirloom I am sure... congrats on starting a ring box category on your etsy site....

Thanks for the feedback on my blog...

Hugs JO

Ruth Welter said...

Thanks Jo.

Anonymous said...

Wow, what beautifully intricate work you do! That is simply beautiful!

Alice Regan said...

Oh my how beautiful and delicate! I think the bride will be very happy to receive this.

Ruth Welter said...

Thank you Melissa & Alice. Miniatures are a real pleasure for me to paint. I truly love working on them.

Anonymous said...

You are so talented! It's just so beautiful. And it was interesting reading about the process.

Manuela

Ruth Welter said...

Thanks Manuela and I'm glad you enjoyed the process.

Catherine said...

It is lovely, it turned out even more beautiful than I imagined!!
You are so creative, & talented!
Cat

Anonymous said...

this is fabulous!
love

Ruth Welter said...

Hi Catherine, thanks..I had my moments with it believe me but I was overall very happy with the way it turned out. It seemed to take me forever to get the dress flared out just the way I wanted it.

Hi Suzi, nice to meet you...thanks for your visit. glad you liked the brides box.

Greenie Gardens said...

That turned out so well. What lovely colors you used and I like the way you extended the flowers over the top edge. It's nice the way the egg was cut as well. I'm sure the bride will be delighted! Stephanie

Ruth Welter said...

Thanks so much Stephanie. Everybody...you gotta go to Stephanie's blog, she has showcased some of the most gorgeous paintings from a really wonderful artist. It was a treat to see them. You wont be disappointed with the visit.

Archie and Melissa said...

Hi Ruth!

I LOVE your work! It is beautiful! It is a pleasure to meet you.

Melissa
http://www.pugnotes.com

Ruth Welter said...

Hey Melissa..thanks for stopping by. Everybody, you have got to visit Melissa's website and blog, her Pug art is fantastic.

www.pugnotes.com