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I need your help!
Please keep me accountable for this series. Comment here or on Facebook, say how much you want to see your month, give ideas or suggestions, or just yell out "Hey, where's the next month?! It's been WEEKS!". :P
I want to do all twelve months. Here are the guidelines for my flower fairies...
Each piece will show:
Since August is almost over I started with October. She's done entirely in watercolor, no colored pencil. It's been a while since I've done that.
"Calendula"
open edition print on Etsy
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By: nicole,
on 8/24/2013
Blog: the enchanted easel (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: girl, children's art, ocean, mermaid, sea, jellyfish, water, acrylics, whimsical, October, mythical, original painting, birthstone, the enchanted easel, opal, gemstone, Add a tag
Blog: the enchanted easel (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: girl, children's art, ocean, mermaid, sea, jellyfish, water, acrylics, whimsical, October, mythical, original painting, birthstone, the enchanted easel, opal, gemstone, Add a tag
i always start by *inking* or outlining the image in a watered down version of a gray acrylic, after i've transferred the sketch to the canvas, that is. by laying down the gray outline on top of the pencil transfer, the image doesn't get lost once i begin to lay down the background layers of color.
i choose my color palette for the background (in this case pastels and different shades of white to mimic the gemstone Opal) and then i go crazy just laying down the color in various strokes. i don't blend the paint on the palette at this point, just on the canvas with the large brush so that it's a it more random...the placement of color. i usually will do 2 coats of the background before moving on to the next step....
once the background is complete, i start to lay down the underpainting of the flesh in the mermaids face and then i address all the other parts of the painting the same way....always underpainting and building from background to foreground.
for October's mermaid, Opal, i am slowly building watercolor-like washes with my acrylics. let me give some MAJOR LOVE right now to acrylics. they are my FAVORITE medium for numerous reasons. they are extremely versatile and the color pay off is fabulous! i love how they can be watered down to an almost watercolor-like consistency or they can be applied thick with a brush, palette knife or whatever you can get your hands to lay down the paint. they are build able and there is no crazy drying time like there is with oils (not that i don't love oils too....). can't say enough about them!
ok, back to Opal here....
i'm laying down washes of color first in stages so that i can go back over them with a light mix of dove gray, unbleached and bleached titanium paints to give it that opal like milky look. the trick here, as opposed to the other mermaids in the series, is that because the hair and the background are so similar, i have to make sure that Opal doesn't fade away, hence the deeper colors in the strands of hair.
afterward, it's time to move on to the jellyfish and the rest of the painting and then VOILA...the finished little masterpiece! :) hoping to have her listed FOR SALE by the end of this coming week.
speaking of, can't believe it's almost September already! THANK GOD!!! BRING ON FALL!!! and FOOTBALL!!! and for those of you who truly know me, you know what that means....PEYTON MANNING BACK ON MY TV SCREEN!!!
CAN. NOT. WAIT.
2 Comments on a peek into the process...., last added: 9/1/2013
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By: Sara Burrier,
on 8/10/2011
Blog: warrior princess dream (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: october, birthstone, fairy, series, watercolor, etsy, birthday, flowers, mucha, Add a tag
Blog: warrior princess dream (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: october, birthstone, fairy, series, watercolor, etsy, birthday, flowers, mucha, Add a tag
It has officially begun, a new series.
I need your help!
Please keep me accountable for this series. Comment here or on Facebook, say how much you want to see your month, give ideas or suggestions, or just yell out "Hey, where's the next month?! It's been WEEKS!". :P
I want to do all twelve months. Here are the guidelines for my flower fairies...
Each piece will show:
- The month's flower
- The month's birthstone colors
- A moon or sun
- A braid of some sort in the hair (to me this is a symbol of God's warrior princess, or a daughter of God)
- Something in the background having to do with the month and/or season
- Must have a "Mucha" feeling. Yes, it has been done before, but I've been wanting to do it for a while and this is my chance.
- Incorporate something from my pencil drawings (the birthstones).
Since August is almost over I started with October. She's done entirely in watercolor, no colored pencil. It's been a while since I've done that.
"Calendula"
open edition print on Etsy
7 Comments on Birthday Flower Fairies, last added: 8/11/2011
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Hi. Very cool. Love the art. You really took this all the way Nicki! Do you still have any of the drawings you made for me back in the day?
considering I'm not quite sure who " anonymous" is, I can't really answer that question.
however, thank you (whomever you are) for the kind words.
and it's "Nicole", please :)