Summer Breeze Faery

This is the second artwork in my new "Season of Faeries" series.

Watch as it comes into being.

The first piece in this series is Arrival of Spring Fairy. You can see that one in the Fairy Realm Gallery. While I was painting that one I was thinking about the next piece and really debating whether or not I should do them in "proper" order or not. Hmmm...... What made me decide to do them this way is that Summer was the one that I had the least amount of "vision" for. I have tons of ideas for both Fall and Winter. But I was really searching for Summer. SOooo.... instead of putting it off, I thought it was probably best to get her going right away.

I went round and round with lots of possible scenarios for her.....tropical....beach....forest....lake..... Ugh! Looked at lots of research photos etc.... and finally decided to just start with the central figure and then see where it goes.

I chose a photo of my oldest daughter taken several years ago that spoke sultry summer to me. The photo was taken by a really wonderful photographer and good friend - Eric Francis. Here's the link to his site.

http://www.ericfrancisphotography.com

And so it begins.

I do the drawing the same size as the painting is going to be. This way I can use tracing paper to transfer the finished drawing to the wood panel. It eliminates the need to draw the whole thing twice.

I was out of large size paper and it was a really nasty, winter day outside, so instead of heading out to the store for more paper, I taped two pieces together to get the right size. LOL! I really wanted to start her and I REALLY didn't want to go out in the cold!!

Anyway ...

Here's the start of the drawing. I put in the background sections first. They match the sections of Spring Fairy.

The photo to the right of the drawing is the photo of my daughter Courtney that I'm using for this painting. I've blown that up to the size that I want also.

Sorry this one is a bit out of focus. Seems all the ones that I took this day are. This was the best of the lot.

Anyway ... the Butterfly shaped wings have now changed to wings a bit more similar to the ones in Spring fairy. The butterfly shape just didn't seem to be right for this one.

And I played with her hair a bit. The song Summer Breeze kept running through my head as I did this. :-)

Here's the cropped version of the actual photo of Courtney that I'm using.

Actually got the camera in focus this time! Woohoo!

It looks like she has picked a direction! Those are grape vines that are appearing in the background. They're drawn dark but will be done in lighter colors (like with Spring Fairy's background) so that they don't take the focus away from the fairy herself.

All those leaves were pretty time consuming so I quite for the day after putting those in.

Friday, Feb.. 5th, 2010 - Did a lot of work on her skirt. Getting those drapes in is a real challenge. You have to make sure that they look real and yet be stylized at the same time. You want them to have interest but not be too overpowering in detail that they take too much focus in the over all piece. Composition...Composition...Composition if you get it right it's like magic! Get it wrong and no matter how good the technique the painting just isn't right!

With that in mind ... I'm not sure about the vines that are behind her head. They might be too much. I'll have to let it sit and see.

Sunday Feb. 7th, 2010 --

I decided on and drew in the "flowers" for the inserts on the top and bottom. I chose a repeat pattern of grapes with a leaf and some curling vines. Once I put those in I stepped back and the grape vines behind her head were just WAY too much. So lots of erasing later, they were gone. And it's much better now. Except that I have no idea what's going in that background section now. I want it to be similar to "Spring Fairy" but not identical. I suppose, I'll let that sit a while and see.

Monday Feb. 8th, 2010 -

I decided to work on some sketches in a smaller format. Sometimes the full size drawing is intimidating. Soooo.... what I did was take the photos that I'd taken of the full size drawing and print them out on regular 8.5 x 11 inch paper. I print several copies and this way I can "play" to my hearts content, until I find the look and feel that I want. Then I can work on putting those elements into the large drawing.

What you see here on the left side are the Sketches that I liked. The bottom one is work on the fairy's hair. And you can see that I started working that into the large drawing.

The upper thumbnail sketch is what I finally worked out for the wings. I tried several different approaches, some with lots of detail in them. But none of those worked for me. They were a bit to busy for this artwork. I'll save those for something else. I decided on putting in a lot of variation and shading of color. So I work some of that out in pencil. None of that however will be able to be seen until I move to the actual painting.

Thursday, February 11, 2001

Well she now has lots more hair, which of course I just love to do. I was a bit difficult to put the long tresses in behind the wings and get it to look like it should.

Then put in the guide lines for the head band that she will have. Although I have no idea what kind of head band it will be, I do know that she'll have one.

And finally I filled her arms with the grapes and the leaves.

You should know that right now I have NO idea what color anything is going to be except for the border and the leaves. Other than that I can't make up my mind. We'll all have to wait and see. :-))

Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010

Okay! here's the finished drawing.

Her hair is all in. I added more behind and below her wings and up behind her head. Now we surely have summer breezes!

I took out the belt. I thought that it "cut" her up a little too much. I like the long look that she has without it much better. Then a few more detail lines for more folds on her skirt.

Then I put in simple trees in the background on the left side.

And Finally, I added some butterflies!

This is as far as this sketch needs to go. Any more lines and it will all get tooooo confusing. Once I get to painting I can add more stuff if needed.

On to painting! Yipee!!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Let the Color Begin!! This part is really fun. It's where I get to loose myself in the art. When I'm drawing there's all sorts of figuring and angst that's happening. When I get to paint, it's a slow and completely enjoyable process. This piece should be interesting though, I really don't know what most of the colors need to be. I know that the border needs to be that mottled cream color and that the trees and the leaves should be green of some sort and that the sun is probably yellow, but that's all that I know right now. I'll work with what I know first, then see what happens.

The "canvas" for this is a wood panel. I purchase it (masonite) at my favorite DIY home project store and even have them cut it on one of those huge machines! The edges are straight and the sizes are pretty much the same.

Then I use a stain roller and slowly roll on 3 layers of white gesso. I sand each of the layers once they are dry before the next layer goes on. This gives me a really wonderful smooth surface. This surface is a priority because of all the detail.

Anyway, this is the first day of color. Simple, but sooooo cool! Even if I do say so myself.

Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010

Sometimes I really have no idea what something is going to look like until I start to add color. That's what's happened here with the background. There's a whole forest back there!!! OMG! (giggle).

Honestly though, I hadn't realized it would look this way and I'm really please that it does. It's what I was looking for!

The greens are a bit more "earthy" in this piece. Spring Fairy's trees are a lighter, "newer" green. Here they have more brown in them. The sky is a little different too, it has a bit more yellow in it.

Friday, Feb. 19, 2010

Not a lot of color added this day. Finished putting in the first layer of the background forest.

Then took a while to decide on the color of the grapes. I think that doing them purple is just not right. Why? Hmmm.... I'm not sure. But don't think that it would work in this painting. So I'll try this sort of yellow-sienna color.

Then took some time to decide on the color of her hair. Spring is sort of a strawberry blonde, and I know that Fall is going to be a deep rich brunette and Winter will either be a raven haired beauty or shiny silver. So.... that pretty much left a red head for summer. Which is okay, but a bit predictable maybe? How about a rich auburn sort of red head?? Well the great thing about oil paint is that if I don't like it, I can always change it later.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Not a lot different here. Still pretty much laying in the background and base layers of paint. -- Some more hair, and the blue in the top and bottom borders -- More green in the trees on the right -- browns into the stalks for the grapes -- the first layer of skin tone and the blue in the small bottom sections.

Then I added the sun rays to the top left. I'd been looking at it for several days now and decided to bite the bullet and put them in. With oil paint, if I don't like it, I can always paint over it and take it out.

I think she's coming along nicely.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A bit sunnier in the studio when I took this photo than it was in Monday's photo. So the colors look a little different. But I haven't started changing color .... yet! (giggle). But I did add another layer of color to the background trees, giving them a bit more sharpness on the edges.

Background details are going in now. The grape vines have leaves and the top and bottom borders have the leaves too. I also added some outlining to the grape vines and staffs.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Not to worry, the photo is dark because there wasn't much sun when I took the pic. I promise I haven't started changing colors... yet anyway! (giggle).

Put the first layers of her hair in around her face. And OMG! She's starting to really come to life. This is where they start to "talk" to me. (I know that sounds so very like a whacked out artist, but it is the worrisome truth! LOL!!)

As always this is where the process slows down and the brushes I'm using start to get smaller.

BTW, Still haven't come to a complete decision as to what color her dress is, but I'm leaning towards a sunny, warm yellow. I don not however have any idea what those wings will be!! ROTFL! I'll just have to continue with what I do know.

Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010

Amazing what a face will do for a painting. She's really come alive! Can you say Pygmalion!! LOL!!

And lots more hair too. Not sure about all those strands blowing above her head. I'll have to wait and see on those.

More layers of color to her upper body, arm and hand. And now she's holding grapes. A good days work, even if I say so myself.

But ... uh-Oh! Time to pick a color for her dress! Yikees!

Friday February 26, 2010

OMG!!! I actually chose a color for her dress! I can't tell you how long I worried about it. But once I started to lay it in, I knew it was the right choice! What better color for Summer than the golden yellow of the sun! Lots of shading to get done, but so far so good.

Oh and the grapes went in in the top and bottom border.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Not too much different here. Lots of laying colors for the dress. Picking colors for the shading and deciding where they go. It's really a soothing section of painting. No tiny details, no real figuring. Just playing with smooth color.

Oh! and I got rid of some of the blowing strands of hair on the top left of her had. It as too much, had her looking a bit like Medusa. Because it's oil paint I can paint over it and have it pretty much disappear. Although with this particular item I may have to go in and scrape it away to have it really disappear.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

I know it doesn't look like I did much but a lot of work and rework went into her face. If you take a close look at the face from yesterday you can see the difference. I've softened her look a bit. Gave her more of a smile. Basically made her a bit more friendly, but kept the attitude.

Also added color to the border of the center circle.

Below is a close up view of her new face!

I think a bit more work needs to be done to smooth sections out and I'm not sure that her mouth is quite right, but I'll let it sit a while. That layer of paint needs to dry some before I can go in and mess with it again, and things always look different the next day.

Thursday March 4, 2010

So after immense amounts of worry, dithering, envisioning and just plain procrastinating, I picked colors for her wings. Well .... actually what I did was take my husbands' suggestion that summer to him means dragonflies and iridescent wings.

With paint brush shakily in hand, I spent the day laying in color. A bit of teal, some green and even some purple, all centered around yellow to have them glow and to tie them in with her dress.

Ya know, I think it works! LOL!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Not a lot of work is really visible, or obvious I should say. I worked on adding a bit more color into the wings. Some more of the blue and purple to help with that sort of iridescent look.

I worked on her face a little to smooth out some of the blotches of color. Then I gave the beads on her circlet some color too.

I worked more on her dress adding more color. I'm not sure that that was right though. May have gone too far into an intense yellow.

I added more paint to the section just above the left side of her head, trying to get rid of the tresses of hair that were there and now need not to be. But it doesn't look like they are going to cooperate and disappear. So I think I'm going to have to scrap off the paint and hope that I can get it off smoothly enough not to make a mess. But not today.

Here's a close up view. You can see the details lots better. And see what I mean about those tresses? They just won't go away. It's lots harder to paint light over dark and have it work. So I will have to scrape. Yuck!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Actually got a lot of work done.

It's a bit hard to tell in this photo, but I did tone down the yellow in her skirt. It was way to intense. I lightened up the color on her tummy too and softened the folds of her dress at her back. Then I added some lines to the folds on her dress with a soft sienna kind of color. It popped them out and enhanced the folds.

I also outlined the different background sections with the same color.

The spines ont he wings finally received color and the yellow in them got a bit of highlight.

I then went back and painted her hair back in where I had painted over it while working on her dress. I did have to scrap away the nasty section of the sun and repaint it. But it did cooperate nicely. Whew!

Her circlet received color as did the butterflies!

Now I've started to out line her hair. You can see a bit of it to her left. That's about all that's left to be done. It will really help to pop her right off the canvas. It's a classic illustrators' technique.

March 11, 2010 -- She's Finished -- And has her own page in the Faery Realm Gallery