Alphabet Series - "L" No. 2

This was one of the earlier alphabet ladies I embarked on, but it has taken until now for the recipient to receive it, and thus allow for me to share it with you!

There were many things I was proud of with this piece, and it's safe to say that I still like it now, which is a good sign! For, usually artists look back at old work and think that they were terrible, and can't understand why they were so proud of it at the time :P

I really experimented with creating colours for this one. I mixed a jacaranda colour for her eyes (inspired by Odette), a mint for her dress and a reddish-brown for her hair...I love the layout of the dress, it really captures a strong, yet graceful movement of fabric, as she dances the night away...I also love the look of the hair with its swirls and tonal graduation...

She was inspired by Anastasia, and she makes me want to draw more dancing ladies! But alas! I have another piece to show you soon, which is of a quite different project theme, and I think I will be doing a few more pieces for the new project, before I can go back and experiment more with the alphabet series!

Happy Spring-time! =D

The Language of Flowers No. 2

I wanted to share another painting I've done using the 'Language of Flowers' concept. I loved making the last watercolour, and wanted to embark on another personalised bouquet for a special person in my life...

I have been slack of late in the art-making department, as grabbing a novel is often an easier way to wind down...But I am happy that when I do hit the paintbrushes, that I do something which is meaningful to me...

 Geranium - True friendship

Celandine - Joys to come

Fuchsia - Humble love

Flax - I feel your kindness

Petunia - Your presence soothes me

Happy fairy dusting your life... :)

The Language of Flowers

Back in January I read the most beautiful book, 'The Language of Flowers' by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. Despite the vastly different circumstances the main character Victoria, experienced in her life, I resonated with, and connected to her story. It gave me great hope. Although, most of what I felt, and the reflections I had, was dis-related subject matter, it nonetheless struck me due to its humanity.

Each type of flower has a meaning, and Victoria uses this as her way of communicating to others. It was tragic and beautiful, all at the same time. The symbolic use of flowers inspired a painting. This was the result, which I gave to my Mum for Mother's Day. I did a lot of research on what the flowers should look like, and in choosing the message I wanted to give her. I did a few sketches of the look of the flowers, and then did a trial with watercolour paint. The final piece is me painting straight onto the paper, no pre-drawing, just going for it, and hoping for no blunders! I chose to give a message comprising of both feelings and gratitude:

Dogwood - Love undiminished by adversity

Gentian - Intrinsic worth

Cosmos - Joy in love and life

Phlox - Our souls are united

Lungwort - You are my life

If you are at a place in your life where you feel a little stuck and need uplifting, read this book. If you have ever felt alone, hopeless or insecure, you will connect to the story. The message I took from it was simple, and regularly overlooked, love and joy. That's all.

Happy fairy dusting your life :)

Alphabet Series - "T"

Here's another one of my Alphabet Series illustrations, which I gave to my sister for her birthday. I used 185gsm paper as opposed to my usual 300gsm, and surprisingly it went well! I was worried that being thinner, it would buckle too much in the areas where I use a lot more water (i.e. layering up the dress to get the gradual shading), but it didn't! So it shows that you can't be skeptical, but need to first give new things a try :)

There is so much I love about looking at this piece; her barrel curls swept to one side, the 50's style dress, her bambi-green eyes, the style of the letter "T", and the sky-high heels :) After preparing this post, I really want to embark on another piece, but also as it is formal season, and I have naturally been looking at all sorts of gorgeous dresses! Thus, I have come across many a picture with some point of interest, be that a hairstyle, body-pose or style of dress...so hopefully there are some illustrations in the works :) I would however, like to build upon this current look by adding a little something extra, but I don't know what direction I'll go yet, as I'm a bit stuck in my current comfort zone. So, I need to follow my own advice, and just experiment, and not worry about producing a frame-worthy piece every time I use a piece of paper!

Happy fairy dusting your life!

Mermaid 'Alagaesia'

Sometimes you feel inspired...and other times you feel dispassionate and are just existing, rather than living...

Sooooo the other week I was feeling more of the latter. Just pacing through the predictable motions of my day. Then, I started looking through images of artists whom I love and for some reason, unbeknown to me, this illustration by Sara Butcher was so beautiful and struck a creative chord that I stopped browsing then and there and got to work on the idea which revealed itself in my mind!

The result was Alagaesia, (a name I only devised for her this very morning, as I've been reading the 'Inheritance Cycle' by Christopher Paolini. If you enjoy fantasy novels, you should try these as the stories are as intricate and real as the world created by Tolkien).

Original dodgy sketch of the idea.

Final design in golden brown pencil.

Further polish final design with blue pencil.

The majority of the piece I finished that day, but the final touches and tweaks took me a few more days to complete as I never know when enough is enough! I hope that you like her, as I am really pleased with how it is different from my norm, with the use of blue pencil, the colour palette and filled background. But not so different as to remove the presence of my style :) What also makes me stoked is that I took a risk (of wasting watercolour paper) and drew the final design straight on the paper, as opposed to polishing it and then transferring it onto the good paper! Yay, progress!

What inspires you, and what does it inspire you to do?

Happy Fairy Dusting your life!

Alphabet Series - "L"

So Valentine’s Day has come and gone once again, and yet I’m still thinking about throwing a “sweet hearts” soiree, where everything is pink, red and white including the food, which is also cut into heart shapes where practicable =D

However, posting this illustration has to suffice for the time being to fulfil the ‘pink’ component. :) This piece used the same process as my other illustrations, but I particularly love how the hair turned out, and the fresh dance-like pose being captured. She is quite doll-esque, but it makes me smile to look at her :)

On a different note, the tertiary academic year is upon me, and I’m reluctant to let go of my current lifestyle, which is filled with exploring and enjoying all of my favourite cultural pursuits…I have appreciated it though, utilised it well, and achieved much, which is more than I can say of holidays past where the time flew past yet I had little to show for it!  

So as I go back to school, I'm conscious about how we all have to ensure that we stay balanced, and not neglect doing those things we love! So if you tend to lose track of the little things in life which bring you joy, schedule them into your diary, as you would any other appointment. As the most important appointment you can make, is the one where you give yourself time to you! :D

Happy Fairy Dusting Your Life! =D 

Alphabet Series - "K"

Valentine's day will soon be upon us, and whilst the societal focus of the day seems to have shifted towards dating-status, I have adopted a different approach. I use it as a reminder to take the time to let those who are integral in my life, know that I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to know them...Celebrating those who are special to me has re-ignited my art-making, as I loving giving to others, and bringing joy, and luckily my hobbies have the ability to bring joy to most people :)

This alphabet illustration is a lot more simple than the others I have been making, it was however the first one I had drafted back in July, before I dove into the project in November with more developed characters. Nevertheless, I still love it, as it is such cute character and the look is quite sweet and perfectly suited to the recipient, a most genuine and lovely young lady :)

There are many ways to give, with words and acts often being much more meaningful than other forms of gifts. So embrace the day as an opportunity to acknowledge the special people in your life...

Happy Giving :D

Alphabet Series - "S"

Here's another illustration from my alphabet series which I made for my Aunt's christmas gift. I really enjoyed making this one, because I was in the zone, and having fun with doing a 70's style dress, seeing as that was the time of my Aunt's youth :)

I got the pose idea from the Snow White DVD cover and used a couple of different magazine clippings to develop the wavy hair design. The hair worked out a lot quicker than previous illustrations! I used cerulean blue for the dress, using the faintest of washes and then layering countless times and slowly doing more in the shaded areas to achieve the ombre look. The hair is a reddish-brown I created using burnt umber and alizarin crimson. The skin uses faint washes of burnt umber, with tinges of rose on the elbows, hands and feet.

The letter 'S' is so much easier to work with than other letters, as you can pretty much use whatever pose you desire, whereas with others you have to be careful in the body's placement for it may be difficult to tell what the letter is!

It's currently raining cats and dogs here...so my question is what are your go-to rainy-day activities? Mine are pretty much the same as those I generally enjoy doing! But I do love bunkering down and watching a good movie with some hot chocolate too :)

Happy Fairy Dusting! :D

Alphabet Series - "A"

Just a quick post of another one of the illustrations I made as a christmas gift. I tried a number of different things with this piece, using smooth watercolour paper (which I didn't like that much as it shows up mistakes), did a shorter dress design and tried to make it look like she was swirling it. Also, because of the different pose it took me ages to develop the final layout as the hair, dress, limb and head positions needed a lot of tweaking to sit 'right'.

I still have plenty of illustrations to keep showing you, but I've been having a break from drawing and instead been reading and researching quite a bit. This has been great for my imagination, developing new ideas and getting enthused about being creative again!

Enjoy, and happy fairy-dusting your day! :D