Tempest of Ice - Winter Faery

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

And the last installment for this particular series.

Watch as she comes to life.

It was actually pretty hard to get this one started. I think that maybe it's because it's the last one in this particular series, and I've really enjoyed working with these ladies and I'll be sorry to see them finished.

As with the others I start by putting in the background sections. It's really helped to be able to start these drawings this way. It's pretty much eliminated that "scared of the big expanse of white paper" syndrome that comes at the onset of a new drawing.

I wasn't sure of the positioning of her body for this one. If you look at the other 3 in this series, they seem to be turning in a circle. That would have dictated that this one have her back to you. For a while (in the small doodle type sketches that I do) I tried that look out. And conceptually it seemed right. But something about it just wasn't right. And I'm not sure what that was. So I turned her all the way around and that seems to be working well.

I forgot to take a picture between the one above and this one. Sorry. There was a lot of drawing and erasing and changing going on between the two. But I think I've settled on a direction for her look.

As usual, I've no clue what the colors will be. We'll all have to wait and see.

I was able to get a lot of work done on her yesterday. I think that I have her wings at the right angle now. And in the right shape. I wanted them to look like a combination of icicles and snow flakes. So I think the shape is right.

Got her hair in now too. I may put in some more fly away strands to help give the illusion of a wind swirling around her. That's why I added those "ribbon" type things at her waist. But I'm not totally sure that I like them.

The V in the front of her dress got a little lower and I added arm mitts.

I think that I'll work on the background some today, even if I haven't got a clue what is back there!

Also spent some time prepping the wood panel for this painting. It takes a couple of days to get it ready. I roll on a thin layer of Gesso with a stain roller. Let it dry (usually overnight) then sand it with fine sand paper. I repeat that process about 3 times. It gives me a nice smooth and white surface to start the painting.

Okey dokey!! Getting lots closer!

Even though the ribbons on her waist were nifty, I took them out. Seemed that they made her a bit too frivolous. And there's nothing frivolous about winter.

Then I added some background detail in the lower sections. It's a bit hard to see here but it is in. Then I was really confused as to what to add in the upper background sections, so I left them and moved on to the top and bottom border inserts.

A few more strands of hair and some detail in her wings and I was toast for the day.

Still some more detail to figure out, but if today goes well I may get the drawing finished. Keep your fingers crossed!

But first I have to sand the wood panel and add another coat of gesso. This way the "canvas" will be ready to work on tomorrow.

Yipee!! The drawing is finished.

Lots of little additions since yesterday.

• There are now snow covered pine trees in the upper left and right background sections.

• She has a few more strands of blowing hair.

• The trim on her gown now has a pattern of ice crystals.

• Her arm warmers now have trim on the top and bottom that match the trim on her dress.

• The main folds in her gown have more secondary folds now. Adds a bit more interest to the skirt of the gown without adding a pattern to it. And since none of her sisters have a pattern to their gowns I didn't think I should start now. I'll save that for another time.

Now all I have to do is get the "canvas" sanded one last time and it'll be ready to have the sketch transferred to it.

Let the Painting begin!!!!

With this series the first day of painting has not been as nerve wracking as with some other pieces. Because they all have the border and that border is basically the same colors, starting is much easier.

It was pretty dark in the studio this morning. Pretty cloudy and nasty here in Omaha again! So the photo isn't really true to color. But you get the general idea.

Well .. moving right along.

As usual I'm a bit confused as to colors. Well ... maybe not confused. I think that she should be in all the blues, grays and purples one would assume for a Winter scene. BUT ... she does have to work well with her "sisters".

I think that for something to be a series, you should be able to hang all the works in that series side by side and they should all work well together. Harmonize, sort of .

Anyway, that's why she has skin tones and a face long before I usually put them in. It was the one thing I was sure of and I thought that if I had a face in then I would really know who she was and the rest would follow easily. LOL! Well, we'll see!!

Since I pretty much knew what colors I wanted for her hair, I thought that would be a great place to start adding in color. I think that it's coming out really nicely. The only issue is that it takes sooooo long when your painting details.

What you see here is 5 1/2 hours of painting time!

Started the day by finishing up her hair. And then did a bit more work on her face, neck and arms. With Oil Paint, a slow application of successive layers of paint, with each layer being a bit thinner than the last, you can really achieve the illusion of depth. It's really kinda cool.

But once finished with that, I had no choice but to start on that dress! Yikees! Well I decided to start with some very light tones, this way if I decide that I hate the color, it won't be too hard to change it.

But so far, I think I'm headed in the right direction. ;-)

So sorry about the color in this image. It's been raining for days here in Omaha and I had to take this photo with all the incandescent lights on. So it really gives it a yellow cast. And no matter how much I played with the color in Photoshop, I really couldn't get it to come to "true color". But at least you can see the work that I've did.

I filled in a lot of the base color in her dress. I'll go back and add some color to the folds as the base color dries. Then I finally picked a color for the branches in the background and worked on those. I think they're coming out nicely too. All in all, a good day at the easel.

Far better light in the studio yesterday for this photo. Not perfect, but better.

I worked alot on the background. Added color to the trees in the upper back and then changed color in some of the lower background (a bit less gray, a bit more teal).

Filled in some areas on the borders of her bodice, some swirls on the bottom of her gown and her arm warmers.

Also deepened the color on the side of her gown and on the arm warmers.

Have you noticed that I'm staying FAR away from her wings?? LOL!! Had that same problem with Summer. Hmmm.... I'll have to get to them soon.

I think I may get as much out of these works in progress photos as you all do. I would have sworn at the end of the day yesterday, that I didn't really get much done. That I simply played with color on her gown and tweaked it a little bit.

But Geez! I did get LOTS done. LOL!!

• Shadowing and shading in the swirling part of the skirt.

• Color added to the trim of the bodice and the arm warmers.

• Outlined the snowflakes in the top and bottom borders.

• Added more of the Mauve color to the snow in the background.

• Some shading work in the small triangular type sections at the bottom.

Sorry about the copyright notice. She's not finished yet, but she's close enough to make swiping her a temptation. The © makes that a little less tempting.

Anyway .... WINGS!!! I love them! But then I have this thing for purple. Truly my favorite color. They aren't finished yet. They need more detail. But after 8 hours in front of the easel, I think I've nailed it. IMHO!

I started out a lot lighter in tone, but as the day went on the color got more and more intense. I also add more of that purple/mauve color to the background and to the trim of the borders on her dress and arm warmers.

Tried to do some more work on the wings yesterday, but they weren't quite dry enough for me to fool with them. I was just pulling up the paint below and starting to make an awful mess. So I worked on some of the little things that needed done.

• Added some more of the purple to the shadows of the lower part of her skirt.

• Added more definition to the folds in the upper part of her skirt - at the waist.

• Added a bit more color and shadow to the left side of her waist.

• Punched up the color in a couple of the stars/snowflakes in the border trims of her dress and arm warmers.

• Added more color tot he snowflakes in the top and bottom borders.

• Added the lines around the background sections. (It's amazing how much of a difference that makes.)

Nope I didn't play with the color of the whole painting. I did play with the camera settings and the lighting in the studio to try and get an image that was truer to the actual color of the painting. And I succeeded pretty well here.

These colors are far truer.

And nope, she's not finished quite yet, but she will be today! I'm pretty sure. A little bit of tweaking on the left side of her skirt and then finish the outlining. And she'll be done.

I will however, wait until I can get a completely true color image of her before I post the finished product. For that to happen,I need an over cast day, that isn't too windy, then I take her outside with the help of my darling husband and get some good shots of her.

Sign up for my newsletter and I'll send out an announcement once I get those images and create her page. Here's the link --

Teri's Newsletter

She's finished and now has her own page in the Faery Realm Gallery!