Art Nouveau Fairy Painting : Luna Moth : Completed!
I finished this last Friday, and am quite pleased with the flow and expression of what is really a homage to the great Alphonse Mucha, the beauty that is Byzantine and Orthodox Iconic Art and, of course, fantasy art. The Luna Moth is a fascinating creature whose colours and ethereality also inspired me…
You can purchase a beautiful print of this painting in my online shop Here.
Luna Moth Fairy Painting progress
This is how my new Art Nouveau inspired fairy painting is looking so far…
I have been painting it on Fredrix watercolor canvas, which is proving to be somewhat of a challenge as it is very slippery and I am finding that the water-based pigments do not adhere too well on the specially coated canvas. it is also very sensitive to any natural oils that come off one’s hand whilst painting, making in effect waterproof! I will be using acrylic to give this painting more adhesion and substance – will post the next and final stage in the next 2 days…
Thanks for looking! – You can see the first stage of this painting Here
“Luna Moth” : New Fairy Painitng, Art Nouveau style…
It is time for another fairy painting! To me, fairies represent the feminine spirit in Nature: ethereal, transcendent, beautiful and inspiring.
I love the work of Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha ; his illustrative style is highly decorative yet maintains a wonderful evocative realism that captures the feminine essence within the natural world exquisitely. I also have a fascination for the exotic luna moth and want to combine those two inspirations with the magical ambiance of a crescent moonlit night… ~ You can see more of my original fairy and fantasy paintings here. ~
Here is the quick sketch, and the beginnings of the painting. I am using Fredrix watercolor canvas which is so interesting to paint on. It has a smooth and very watercolour- paper like canvas surface, but one can achieve beautiful blending and painterly techniques.
Blue Sylph
I am obsessed by the colour blue. It almost rivals my hankering for all shades green.
I wanted to create a “Faery” painting imbued with emotional hue; to me, blue is the ultimate colour of deep emotion – and there are so many different types of blue, the essence of which is a primary colour and cannot be created at all by mixing other colours together.
Blue is often associated with sadness; in Greek mythology, the god Zeus would make rain when he was crying, and a storm when he was angry.
I see it as a very mystical, emotionally-saturated colour which ultimately has much strength to it. It is a beautiful colour to work with – deep and tranquil…
So, here she is – the longing Sylph, caught between earth and air – perhaps the butterfly is her yearning for flight, or it may be some other spirit of desire….You can purchase a beautiful reproduction of this painting here.
Fairy picture : for a new T-shirt design
I have been looking through my beautiful Art Nouveau books that I have been collecting over the years, and have been inspired particularly by the amazing artist and designer Alphonse Mucha.
His imagery is so beautifully and sensually executed, whilst still being functional – as so many designs of this era were. He drew on Celtic motifs and from the immense source of designs that we find in Nature- sinuous vines, flowers half closed, insects, women, leaves, stars and trees…can’t help but feel inspired !
-I have been wanting to do an unusual fairy design for a woman’s fitted T-shirt for a while and the gorgeous Art Nouveau style suited the image I had in mind perfectly – flowing, subtle ( which can be hard to find on clothing these days) and with a vintage feel :
fairy picture
Faery Cat…the beginnings
I am really missing having a cat around the house as I have always grown up with them and found these beautiful creatures a constant source of inspiration and comfort. So I am bringing their spirit through into this A4 drawing about the exquisite beauty and tranquillity of a sleeping cat…they almost look like they are lost in faerieland when they are asleep ! I am working on it slowly, while sitting at our market stall at Glebe Market, Sydney.
I used to do a lot of black & white drawings when I was a student, filling in all my lecture notes with little illustrations. There are some of my older works on my website and it is really wonderful to be doing this sort of finely detailed work again.
Listening to p.j harvey’s new “White Chalk” album with it’s simplicity and haunting emotion reminds me why I love this way of creating. Drawing in freehand, with only the barest of pencil lines to guide the progress of pen on paper – it is a good meditation and a great way to gain drawing confidence and freedom of expression ! Guess we’ll have to see how it turns out….but the path to creating is often more fun than what is at the end….
*
27 February 2008
Finally finished this – here it is ! …it kind of got spirited away with itself…
