The Peacock Fairy - Work in Progress

And the attendees to the Fairy Masked Ball continue to arrive! Here's the fourth! She's going to make an attempt to outdo her sister fairies. She's going to costume herself as a Peacock! Now how she's going to do that, I'm not sure at all!! But she thinks it's a good idea! (And yes, I do talk to them and they do take on personalities of their own! TeeHee!!)

As with the previous ones in this series, I start with drawing the archway, through which all the fairies will arrive. I try to keep the measurements all the same. I think this simple device helps to tie all the works in this series together. (In my mind anyway, and we all know how sane I am!!)

And as usual, I'm creating the drawing in the same size as the wood panel I will use. 24" x 36".

So have you ever met an actual peacock, in real life. They are truly gorgeous, AND they know it!! They are filled with attitude. So I thought that it was only fitting that this fairy would also be!

You know I'm truly not sure where this one is going. With Gypsy Dancer I sort of knew ahead of time where I wanted her to go. But this one seems to be pretty much on her own.

I say that because before I started to put them in, I had no idea that she was going to have a double layer of wings! Should be fun to watch her come to life!!

Here come the wings!!

So far I'm really in love with her wings!

I put in some more of the smaller wings and darkened the larger ones so I can see them better. I really like the fact that the focus on this Faery seems to be her wings. Which I guess is only appropriate for the Peacock Faery! :-)

I also added more ruffle to her skirt. I'm not sure how much farther I want to go with the skirt. The other Faeries in this series have lots and lots of skirt, but somehow I'm not sure that it's right for this particular lady. Hmmmm ..... I'll have to wait and see.

I did a bit more work on her face, mostly to bring out her personality. This way I can better know what type of dress she's chosen. (yep, I'm just a little bit nuts, and I talk to my art!! LOL!!)

She's really starting to come alive now, IMHO. :-) I worked a bit more on her face, so that I could get to know her better. And then started to add in her hair, which really helped to define her face. Then a little work on her headdress. ... I'm not sure where that's going to go yet, so I'll have to try several different things, I think.

A bit more definition in the bodice of her dress. I think I make keep this a bit simpler than the others. It just feels right to me. For now anyway.

She's coming along slowly. I spend a lot of time just sort of staring at her. Adding this or that in my head, then taking it away. But ...

She has a bit more of her headpiece, and a bit more definition in the bodice of her dress, more detail in her hip sash, a few more ruffles in her skirt and some detail in her underskirt.

I think a lot of her dress is more of a melding of colors than lots of detail trim. But I need to make sure that I'm making that choice because it's right for her and not just because I'm being a bit lazy. :-)

Sorry that this has been a long time in coming. I had a booth at an event this past weekend and I spent a while last week just getting ready for that. But I did manage to also get some work in on our lady here. And I think that she's come a long way.

The peacock "eyes" have gone in on the inner feathers ... Her headdress is about complete, and really lots of fun ... of course she has more hair! ... the front of her skirt now has more detail ... the back of her skirt has more ruffles ...

I really like her hip swag, but I'm not sure at all what else to do with it. It can't just be left the way it is, but what else to do with it?? hmm....

I'm thinking about an arm band too. You can see the start of it, but I'm not sure. I kind of like the long lean line of that arm and an armband will break it up.

Then at the last, I went back in and added some feather spears. I think this lady is all about the wings!

OKAY!! The drawing is complete!

I went round and round about adding hanging jewelry to her hip sash. I even drew some in, but it just didn't seem right. And I have no idea why. It just didn't. But it needed something and then the ribbons actually just sort of started to appear! (ugh artists!) And they looked right to me. So they get to stay.

Of course I added a bit more hair in and amongst the wings.

Then I added just a touch of "jewelry" type straps to her dress ala Alphonse Mucha.

And then I stared at it a long while before deciding that she was finished. I think a lot of this one happens with color. We'll have to see!

This is what she looks like transferred to the wood panel. (The wood panel is masonite that my local hardware store cuts to size for me. Then I roll on -with a stain roller- 3 layers of gesso, and sand each layer of gesso as it dries).

In case your new to my WIP - I create the original drawing in the same size as the painting will be. I use that drawing and some artist transfer paper (like carbon paper for artists) and trace over the original drawing to transfer it to the panel. This eliminates the need to totally redraw the image. Which is WAY time consuming. And this allows me to make all the mistakes and erasures on paper and not on canvas.

It's a bit more high tech, but Leonardo da Vinci used pretty much the same method of transfer. But he had to use a pounce wheel and a chalk bag.

I know that it's a little difficult to see, BUT color has started.

As with all my other works I start with the background first. I guess it's a habit I picked up from my watercolor days. I works really well for me and I think that it helps to create the depth that I like to get.

The fact that the base color to the background is a pale yellow for all the works in this series, really takes all the fear away from putting that first brush stroke on the canvas.

First layer is dry and the second layer of background color is in now. Think I'll wait and add a third layer of color to the background before I move on.

The commission I have been working on alongside this lovely lady is finished. So work on Miss Peacock here should now move along a bit faster.

As you can see I've pretty much settled on Teal being the base color for this piece. Of course, if you've followed my other work in progress pieces, you know that color choices sometimes make a drastic change!! LOL!

Anyway this is where I'm going to start with this piece and we'll see how it goes from here.

Sorry that the image isn't so great. It's been fairly dark in the studio lately. Lots and lots of rain! You can actually watch the grass grow, there's been so much!

I'm staying really light with the colors right now. I'm not totally sure where they are going so staying in the lighter tones makes it a lot easier to change them.

So, finally making some color choices! But I'm still staying with lighter tones at first. But I think that you see here most of the colors that will go into this piece. Except maybe there will be a bit of purple, somewhere, of course!

Managed to get a little bit of work done over the holiday weekend. Another layer of color on her skin. It takes a few layers to get it to look right, so I have to be patient and know that it will come right in the end.

And now she has a face!

I love doing that part. She becomes almost a real person when I get some of the face in. ... Well, at least I don't feel quite a silly talking to her!! LOL!!

I also added another layer of color to the rest of her skin, which also helps to bring her to life.

It's a bit hard to see here, but I did work on that double arch behind her. The lower sections are now darker and the upper sections have some highlight to them. It's really subtle, but I think that it makes a difference in the appearance of the piece.

I've also started with the second layer of color to the underskirt and to her wings. Lots more to do there.

I added a bit more definition to her underskirt. Now you can actually see the folds.

Then I started some work on the second layer of paint on her feathers. The shadows help to add definition to the individual feathers. And give the whole piece more depth.

I think I'm still a bit gun shy on the color. But I'm sure that will come.

The light in the studio was a bit dark, again, when I took this photo, so I had to play with it some so you could see any of it. That's why the upper left is so very yellow. It's not like that in real life.

Anyway ... I worked some more on her back wings and punched up the color some and added a bit more depth to them. I think they need at least one more layer of color to really get them to pop. But that will have to wait.

The long thin wings got some color also.

Then I started on her hair. That always takes me a while to do, but its usually worth the effort.

I had been hoping to get this one finished for the Sci-Fi Convention that I have a booth at this coming weekend, but it doesn't look like that will happen. Oh, well ... don't really want to rush her.

Well I'm finally back at it!

Spent the weekend working my booth at the Sci-Fi Convention and honestly having just the best time with all the other vendors and guests. I even sold an original work! It was a blast! That's me with Iron Man and War Machine!

But I'm back to some painting work now. And Missy Peacock is on the move again! Yipee! She has more hair, and another layer of skin tone along with some work on her wings too.

Yay!! Moving right along!

She has all the first layer of her hair in now. And I really like the way that it contrasts with the her wings and skin. It makes her pop right off the page. IMHO.

Then finally put in the first layers of color in the "eyes" of the peacock feathers. And I think that made a world of difference to them too.

Then I got to play with her face. I thought that with this lovely lady I wouldn't do a mask, but do a painted face instead. I think that it's going to work well. There's more to be done, but so far it really gives her character. IMHO! :-)

Alot of the difference in this installment is the photo itself. The colors are a lot truer to the original. I did however, do a lot of work on her gown. The change in the intensity of the blue is what I worked on. But I didn't work on her hair or skin tone. That's just the camera and the difference in the light in the studio.

But this is more true to the painting.

I'm really tickled with the way that the skirt is turning out. It was a bit difficult and time consuming to get all those ruffles in. Lots of highlights and shadows to work on so that they were all delineated.

I've also been adding some shadow tones to the peacock feathers. They are in close to her hair. I think that they will help to add depth.

I think I want to work a bit more purple into her dress, but I'm not sure where. I know that I don't want to have the dress be all one color. That would be a bit boring. But I'm not sure how to incorporate it.

The last bit of skirt ruffle is in now. I made it a bit darker than the rest of that section of her dress. This way it will help to give her a bit more pop.

Also put in some more of her headdress and jewelry. But I'm not sure I'm happy with the colors in the headdress. Hmmmm..... I'll have to wait and see.

The work I did here is kinda subtle. But worth it, I think. I added lots of darker blue tones to the bodice of her dress. And, what's not showing up in this image is that I also added some purple. It's subtle but on the original it really adds interest to the bodice.

I also added a second layer of paint to the ruffles of her skirt. But since I didn't really change the color at all, the difference in the quality of the look doesn't really show up here.

I also changed some of the blue highlights in her hair to lavender/purple. I think I may have to add some more highlights. I think her hair is getting a bit dark.

Tiny baby steps towards completion. Or so it might seem.

More work done on the ruffles of her dress .... More work done on the center jewel at her breast ..... And some more work on her hair also.

It does seem to me that she's missing something, but I'm not sure what that could be right now. I'll have to just move along with the things that I know need to be finished and those that need to be enhanced. Then maybe it will come to me.

Some more soft subtle work here. Added a green glow to the background. Takes a while to get it in so that it's subtle.

I also added some highlights to her hair so that you can see the waves a bit more.

Slow, but getting close.

Still more baby steps to the finish.

Added another layer of skin tone .... Put the details in on her hands .... added shadows that will be under the gold chains that hold up her dress .... decided on the color for her hip sash and put the first layer in.

Worked a lot on her peacock feathers. If you look closely you can see that there's lots more detail work, albeit subtle work, on the tips of the feathers.

And I finally put in the feather on her hat. (The more I look at it, the less and less I like her hat. It seems to be out of whack with the rest of her costume. Hmm....) And then a little work on the gold clasps at her shoulders.

While some of the inner details were drying, I decided that she needed some more of the green "glow" behind her. It just didn't seem like enough, especially when I compared her to the other faeries in this series. So I spent most of the day, very gently adding that in. I like the addition a alot.

Then just as I was getting ready to finish up for the day, I got an inspiration for that headdress I was worried about. But that required that I get rid of what was already there. The wonderfulness of oil paint allowed me to do that. I painted right over what was there. Now I just have to be patient enough to let that dry so that I can make the changes.

Some of the changes have now gone in to the head piece. And already I like it better.

Some more work on her face painting and some wisps of hair added to her shoulders.

I also added some more detail onto the chains that hold up her dress and to the center broach.

Some shadowing and highlight work on her hip belt.

And a bit of lining work to her peacock feathers. They were still looking a bit dull.

She's just about finished. So I had to put the copyright imprint on her. Sorry about that.

I worked a bit more on her headdress and the chains that hold up her dress. I think those are about done now.

Then I did the finishing work on her belt. It now has highlights and shadows. It looks much more 3d-ish than it did.

I also added some more shadows to the ruffles down the front of her skirt. And I think that helped to add interest too.

But then I thought that she needed more purple in other parts of the painting in addition to the belt. So I made the shadows of the skirt on the floor purple and I made all the highlights in her hair purple too. I think that those additions have helped to bring the whole piece together.

Now on to the black lining, to give her the punch she needs.

She's finished and has her very own page in the Faery Realm Gallery.