Garden Fairy

Hi all y’all!

First day of Fall. I love it.

Today is a process and supply day.

I bought some Canva-Paper from Canson. It came in a tablet with 10 sheets, 9 x 12 inches. The paper was going to be just for fun and practice. I had an idea to paint a woman’s face and separately prepare a board, cut out the woman and gel her to the board. The canvas paper is a nice weight and easy to cut. Because of the weight the paper adheres smoothly to a roughly textured board.

I used a spatula and gesso on the board. Then I sanded it so it wouldn’t be quite so textured.

I started painting the woman. My favorite way to paint is to have no idea when I start and just see what happens. It is time-consuming to keep adjusting the image. If I were in a position to solely support myself through my art, I wouldn’t be able to approach this way. I worked most of a week on a painting that I will sell for $150.

I only know she is happy and wearing flowers.

I am starting to see her, but don’t know who she is.

Between this last photo and the one before it, I changed her ears to fairy ears.

I look at every inch of the painting and see where I am happy. I didn’t like the top left corner, so I put tissue paper in layers on with gel. I like the transparency. You can see glimpses of words and music. Then I painted large leaves on top of the tissue. It makes the fairy look smaller. I think in real life, she is about 11 inches tall. Quite tall for a fairy.

I wish you could see her in person. There is a lot of texture.

You can’t see this close-up too well, but I love when I don’t like an area, then later it is my favorite part.

I picked up the frame at an estate sale. I stained it with the same color I used as the last coat on her face. It is Golden Quinacridone/ Nickel Azo Gold. After I applied the color on the frame, I rubbed some of it off with a damp paper towel.

I feel happy that I finished her on the first day of Fall.

With love and gratitude,

Gator Girl