Rose Fairy Watercolor

I've had a bit of a crazed week, Christmas orders have been coming in steadily and I've been working to get as much of a jump on them as possible. I've had time to think about what I want to work on but, no time to actually do anything about it.

I thought I would show my Rose Fairy 12 x 16 watercolor on 140lb coldpress paper. She was my first fantasy piece that I created and it was what really got me hooked on creating more pieces that are fantasy based. I wanted this piece to be very magical and whimsical, a fantasy creature that lives among the garden flowers. She is also available for sale at my ETSY shop at: http://www.artfulcreations.etsy.com/

Since creating her, my mind is leaning toward creating pieces that are a bit more, shall I say dark and mysterious, maybe thought provoking. I've got ideas for new pieces and techniques I'm looking forward to trying, it's just a matter of sifting through some Christmas orders to be able to get to do it. I should have more time next week though and I'm looking forward to starting work on another small piece.

Autumn Leaves Fairy

Well, my new watercolor fairy is completed. Minus Dudley for this photo session, as he decided it was a bit more important to chew his new rawhide flip then participate in the latest photo shoot. It is a chicken basted flip so who could blame him for being more interested in that, then in me today.

She has a real magical, fantasy feel to her....I used quite a lot of metallic paint. I spattered it into the background, tapped it onto her wings and the leaves she is standing behind and also pulled some silver metallic strands through her hair as well.

I really tried to use a lot of autumnal colors in this one and be very fast and free with it. I didn't want to labor over details too much and drive myself nuts. This is a very new concept for me because I work things to death sometimes, trying to get them perfect and still more perfect. I guess you could say I am a perfectionist. I'm quite thrilled however with the results I've achieved here and will be employing this technique again for sure. In fact, I have another idea for a fairy painting I would like to try out. I'll probably go into more detail on that one, now that I've gotten this one under my belt. I really feel like working on my fast and free painting technique a bit more.

She is for sale in my ETSY shop at: http://www.artfulcreations.etsy.com/

A Finished Sketch

Ok, I got my creative juices flowing and finished my sketch. I realize these lines are not that dark ( and may be causing eye strain right this minute) but they are as dark as I could make them so let me take you through what I have drawn. I decided to do a fantasy painting and it centers around a woman and a unicorn in the foreground. In the background, just beyond them, there is an ocean and mountains and a little body of land off to the right.

You are probably wondering, if you've been following my blog, how I went from deciding on one of the below butterfly photos to paint, to starting a fantasy painting. Well, I had picked one of the photos below, in fact, I picked the butterfly on the Lily as I thought it would look great on a really big canvas. Once I decided on it however, I just couldn't seem to get the image down on canvas, for some reason, it just wasn't working for me.

I've become increasingly interested lately in fantasy paintings. I've done a flower fairy already and had so much fun with it, I decided to do a whole series of them. I'll post that painting at some point and go over the whys and hows with you. I've also really had a great desire to paint unicorns these days. So, last week, when I was washing my hair no less, it came to me, the fact that I wanted to do a fantasy painting. Once I got that bright idea, I mulled over a few thoughts as to what kind of images I wanted to portray and I decided to create a unicorn painting.

I'm by no means giving up on the butterfly painting, I'll just do that at another time. If you remember what I said in an earlier post, I mentioned that I really never know what I'll paint until it is actually put down in a sketch, on the the surface I"m painting on. That is when I know I'm truly committed to my subject. Up until that point, I"m constantly mulling over ideas in my head until I get an image down that I'm happy with. So, I'll be starting from the back and working my way forward, which means I'll be starting with the sky. I will be posting pictures of my sky next, to show you the colors I decide on and the progress I make with it.