Visitors at a Fairy Blessing

Visitors at a Fairy Blessing 

© 2017

available for sale HERE (includes prints, home decor, shirts, totes and other products)

This is my last in the "altered photo fairy series" for awhile as I prepare for an art show, a couple of big news announcements, a You Tube channel and some other changes.

The rest of the series is:

Flower Fairies in a Flower Mobile -- my favorite

Fairy Queue

A Dragon Confides in a Fairy 

First things first, though ... 

In "Visitors at a Fairy Blessing" we have three fairies all gathered together with some visitors including three butterflies, a grosbeak and a cat hiding in the bushes. There are also the usual fairy orbs, of course. 

Here are some product photos and ideas (note: the water mark on the lower right is not in actual products):

framed prints available HERE

choose size, frames and mats from drop-down menu 

(the size is 15.75 x 20, the frame is from the gold frames and is RM2, the mat is snow white)

Here is what it looks like as a metal print
(note: metal prints are known to emphasize detail and colors and are great for photography):

 metal prints available HERE 

tote bags available HERE

The totes are very high quality and seem to handle details pretty well.

That is all for now.

Flower Fairies in a Flower Mobile

"Flower Fairies in a Flower Mobile"

© 2017

available for sale HERE (includes prints, home decor, shirts, totes and other products) 

When you work for a fantasy artist's group, it is hard not to be inspired! I write for a fantasy art blog HERE and administer the group HERE.

This is kind of out of the realm of art I make these days (I have been working hard on a series of paintings, which still count as fantasy art, but aren't like this piece), but I always enjoy branching out and having diversions. It makes me a better artist.

Anyway, this is a piece made entirely from my own photos. It is basically a photo collage. These two little girls were at a street fair. The background with the bunny is practically in my backyard (yes, there are an overwhelming number of bunnies around here, and they have attracted some eagles, a rarity in these parts). And then the flowers range from gardens in Maine to upstate New York. The wings are my own creation.  

Here is the general description of this listing:

Two little girl fairies with blonde hair are in a flower mobile. In the background is a rabbit chewing on something good to eat, completely unperturbed by the fairies. There are also some fairy orbs and additional flowers in the background. On the top of the fairy mobile is a big orange butterfly.

This listing includes tee shirts, greeting cards, mugs, pillows and bed covers in this design.

Might look great in a child's room, nursery, playroom or patio.

Symbolism:
* fairies: a legendary or supernatural nature spirit from Europe. Fairies have wings in many varieties, and are typically found with light orbs. According to Wikipedia: "The word 'fairy' was used to represent an illusion, or enchantment; the land of the Faes; collectively the inhabitants thereof; or an individual such as a fairy knight." Magic, enchantment, a deep connection with the natural world and the spiritual world.
* rabbit: fertility, the feminine, abundance, luck, comfort, vulnerability
* purple flowers: dignity, success, spirit
* pink flowers: happiness, love
* orange flowers: heartfelt sincerity
* white flowers: modesty, innocence, spiritual
* yellow flowers: joy, light-heartedness, happiness
* butterfly: transformation, change, the spirit

Fairy Queue

Fairy Queue

© 2016

available for sale as a print (in a multitude of sizes), and as home decor and other products through this link at LISE WINNE.NET

or available for sale as a 11 x 14 hand signed giclee print HERE 

If you have been following along, I started a series featuring altered photographs. The last one was "A Dragon Confides in a Fairy" (viewable HERE). In this piece, I feature a procession of fairies with flowers, a butterfly  and fairy orbs. 

Here are some details of the piece:

detail: at the back of the queue

detail from the middle of the queue

detail from the beginning of the queue

(notice how their clothing is adorned with butterflies)

Here are just a few framing options that you can customize through LiseWinne.net (many more combinations are available, but these are some samples):

gold frame with mist mat

green frame with snow white mat

beige frame (plc8) with mist mat

 purple frame with purple mat

This is the original photograph that it came from. It was a windy day, which is why the hair is flying and the Wizard's cape is blowing back. You can tell I changed a lot including clothing colors, putting wings and pointy ears on the figures, taking the glasses off of another figure, and putting them in a different background with all things associated with a tiny fairies (big flowers, large butterfly, orbs, nature):

derived from an original photo

Renaissance Faire depictions, modern day meets the olde world

Sunglasses

© 2015

(at a Renaissance Faire)

If you followed my last two blogs, you know that I took photos for a flag day parade which resulted in transforming one photo into an art piece called "Followers as Zombies", and I took some photos at a Beltane festival in the dark which resulted in an art piece called "Bacchanalian Freak Show with Hieronymus Bosch Treatment."

One reason I took so long to get the Renaissance Faire photos together to post is that I've been working on many different treatments of them (and still not done).

So, for the first batch, these are themed: modern day meets with the olde world.

The first of them are these ladies with sunglasses. All of them are wearing them, so that was lucky, perfect!

I thought maybe this was the best "statement photo" of the Renaissance Faire shoot too.

Maybe I can't do better than this. 

Or can I?

So, I looked at this photo of a dance at the Sca tent and saw more possibilities:

The Dance II

(preliminary)

© 2015

It's an okay photo. Nothing great. It looks kind of confusing. I've always liked compositions like this, though, where the activity is framed by two figures. Another scene is going on at the top of the photo where a family seems to be gathering on a hill. But the major theme, again, is that the modern day is in with the olde world. 

So I try to give the olde world figures a different kind of treatment than the modern day ones. This is the final result:

 The Dance II

(final)

© 2015

This isn't the most creative thing I've done, though. There are a lot of photographers who emphasize certain figures in this way. But it satisfied me for this particular photo. 

Then I thought I'd try another one. Again, I gave most of the photo a muted look and brightened up the sippy cup. And indeed, this photo is called "Sippy Cup":

 Sippy Cup

© 2015

If you are wondering what I am going to do with the works from the last three posts, I decided to show digital art and art photography in local gallery shows as very few people are working in this medium in my area. There are too many paintings! 

I always like to go in a different direction than the mainstream.

In my area, no one was doing Renaissance music with a creative approach either. Instead of being a woman blues singer in the 1990s like so many others here, I decided to head off in my own direction. While I found that the gigs were limited  to grant funded concerts, the Renaissance music CD got exceptional interest, and for the first few years, sales for them were phenomenal, at least compared to others I had done of more mainstream music styles. I hope to do another Renaissance CD some day. I spent years making some great arrangements of tunes I love.

Beltane 2015 and how it ended up looking like something out of Hieronymus Bosch

bonfire set to go for Beltane 2015!

(Beltane wouldn't be complete without a bonfire and this one has two bonfires)

This is to celebrate and dance away the dark spirits that have been around since Halloween! 

To learn more about Beltane, which is an olde Celtic celebration, go here to a Wikipedia article about it.

This is a continuation of this post about Beltane 2014, and about this post where I promised to post about 3 events in succession. The three events include flag day (where taking pictures of the parade resulted in an art piece called "Followers as Zombies" view-able here), Beltane (this post, which resulted in an art piece that resembled something out of Hieronymous Bosch) and a Renaissance faire (yet to be published).

I sometimes use photos from events for my art. In my particular case, I probably will use more of the flag day photos and Renaissance faire photos than the ones from Beltane, though I am liking this year's crop of Beltane photos more than last year's and you never know what will spark the inspiration.

Before the bonfire gets lit with a torch thrown from a medieval-style catapult, I take a walk through the woods and find that there is a rather large campsite. Most of the camps are tents, but I found this cool caravan, complete with a couple of sculptures nailed to either side of the door:

  caravan camping complete with cozy bed inside

and two ceramic sculptures adorning the outside on either side of the door --

The whole caravan sits on a trailer bed and has modern wheels for a modern highway even though it looks like something from the 1600s - 1800s. This is much nicer to look at than a modern trailer made out of metal and plastic parts! It is very much a mini home and can fit a double bed, the rocker and shelf unit (though I have yet to find out where the small round table can fit ... and on closer inspection, I realize it is a spool, with two round circles on either end, and just fashioned to be a make-shift table for the present).

I noticed two caravans for Beltane this year (last year there was only one caravan, so the new trend seems to be taking hold)!

Then as I go back to the gathering, I notice it is getting dark. So I take a picture of one of the two statues that adorn the gate before the night descends:

sculpture guarding the gate

before dark

In the other post that I wrote, I told how this event takes place at an artist's studio, and his sculptures are everywhere! They are included in everything, even the place where wood is stacked, on carts, where there is a tree growing, where there is an entrance, anything is deserving of a piece of sculpture. For Beltane, the torches are placed in front of the sculptures.

So ... when night arrives the torches illuminate all the sculpture faces (like this one):

 the torches are lit!

the faces all glow in the dark!

Then the bonfire gets lit with fireballs thrown from a hand-built old style catapult up on a hill:

the bonfires are lit by fireballs catapulting into the wood piles

the celebration is on!

the drumming starts!

the dancing starts!

everyone moves a little closer to the fire!

I liked how this guy's profile was framed by the fire:

profiled by fire!

I love the effects of some of the pictures once it is dark! So much better than last year's photo shoot! These guys look like aliens (grays) with their tight suits and hoods. I like how these three figures move, and how they leave trails (because of the low light and long shutter speed):

three figures 

who look like aliens!

and dancing!

Then the fire dancers get started:

the fire dancers start!

and keep going!

and going and going and ...

and going!

There was a little more light made by the bonfires for this next photo, and I like how I'm getting shadowing with all of the figures. Faces begin to take on other-worldly appearances:

fire dancer with on-lookers

And then a guy with horns starts fire dancing too. I love how his glasses are reflecting the fire from his hands and the satisfied smile he seems to wear:

man with horns fire dancing!

another one

... And then he starts to eat fire (!):

fire eater with two fireballs

fire eater in full glory!

The following are my favorites of the night:

This is probably my ultimate favorite of the night! I like the composition and how the figures are moving. This one will have to be relegated to a painting. I don't know how to improve upon the photo itself at this time:

gathering

This one looks like ghosts. The squiggle is somewhat distracting, and I contemplate whether to take it out digitally. It has that Duchamp look to it (reminding me of Nude Descending a Staircase), but there is also something about it that only photography can do: 

ghosts with light squiggles

I take a portion of the photo and play around with it:

ghosts moving, doing their thing

So odd! Whoa! Weird things start happening in the dark, I guess!

It looks like some of the figures are in a bath tub! There was no bath tub, I can assure you! There's also a brown fish coming out of the side of it (front center). And then there's this cubist thing happening in the left corner! The figures ears are pronounced, and you can tell where their hairlines are, but other than that there is a mystery surrounding this perspective and the one preceding it.

I know that these photos were taken near the drumming circle, but other than that I can't remember what was there.

The one thing I left out of the above one was a full perspective of the tree. Perhaps that is what is most interesting about the photo. The tree and figures appear as one:

"Ghosts Holding up the Tree of Life"

This one looks like a Bacchanalian freak show:

"Bacchanalian Freak Show"

(take one)

The most interesting figures (to me) are off to the right. So I focus on them for this next rendition: 

"Bacchanalian Freak Show"

(take two)

It can't get much better than this!

... Or can it?

I go into the photo and try to emphasize the facial features and some of the hands.

Wow! Now it is looking like something out of Hieronymus Bosch (!):

"Bacchanalian Freak Show with Hieronymus Bosch treatment"

(final)

Next up is a Renaissance faire.

flag day parade photos and art, 2015

Flag Day Parade

© 2015

I had a very active weekend in terms of taking photos, which incidentally, I use for my artwork.

I use them in all kinds of ways, for figure references for paintings, for digital art, for composition ideas, or I use them just the way they are with a little fussing. 

First I took pictures at a flag day parade. Then Beltane (which was celebrated late this year). Then a Renaissance Faire. I will put up three posts in succession so you can see them all, but I am being very choosy about what I feature for flag day and for the Renaissance faire. The reason? I am already using them as references for some art pieces and I want them to be a surprise. So for those two events, I am picking pieces carefully.   

Did I have a blast at all of these events? You betcha!

So anyway, sometimes I like to play around with a photo first to see if it has a good composition. This is how I do it, by just using the shapes (also adding a little texture so it isn't so boring):

Flag Day Parade
(experiment)

© 2015

This gives me an idea if I like how the elements are arranged. It simplifies everything too, taking out extraneous details I might not like in my painting. 

I like this composition! The lone figure is framed by all of the other figures, making her the focal point. In the photo, she is facing away from me. In a painting, I might have her facing towards me. Or I might have her protesting something. Or I might put another kind of figure altogether (like an animal).

I definitely won't use the photo as is.

Here is another that caught my eye (as a photograph). I like a lot I like in it, and by spending time with it, and exploring each part of it, I start thinking of possibilities... 

 Flag Day Parade II

© 2015

At first, for this one, I experimented with making it look like an old postcard, bringing out some contrast! They do look more dignified, like they'd have the manners of people in 1940s small town America:

Flag Day Parade II
(experiment to make it look like a bygone era)
© 2015

Anyway, I like this composition too. The flag on the building and the leading man seem to be the focal points, and the wall of followers support the theme. What I don't like is missing the individual faces and expressions of the crowd. There's a lot of emotion that gets lost. We see the crowd behind trying to march in unison, all wearing the same colors, but that's about it. Who are these people? Why do they walk so far behind their leader? They are at too much of a distance.

So I took the left corner of the photo and did this (adding a painterly style filter):

Flag Day Parade II

(detail with painterly style)

© 2015

Now all of a sudden, we have a different leader, even though she is in the same photo! Obviously there is a leader behind the leader!

Interesting, but I felt the work still needed something. How could I give it meaning or a statement?

So I began to think about defining the piece in terms of leader and followers.

Do people think about who and what they are following? Or do they do it unconsciously? Is it good to follow anyone? When people look at a group of people following someone, what are some attitudes about followers? Do people on the sidelines think more about the leader before they think about the followers? Are leaders necessarily more important? How often do we follow someone when we really don't want to? Do we sometimes find it shameful and abhorrent? Do followers sometimes act like zombies, as if they've given into someone or an agenda?

I can see two people in this photo who are definitely acting robotic.

In this photo, the leader is clearly defined: she is the only one dressed up, and she has a livery collar like royals from the 1400s wore. The people behind her are in casual wear, though it is obvious they were "told" what to wear: white shirt with black skirt or pants to mimic their leader. At any rate, they don't look so dignified and upright as the leader. They are trying to keep steps with her, and echo the colors she wears, but in general, they look decidedly more rag-tag.

So I tried to put her even more in the spotlight by making her flesh coloring different than her followers. For the followers, I give them cooler coloring which makes them retreat into the background even more. I gave them slightly different facial expressions than the original too, so they'd look slightly ghoulish. I also made the black clothing out of a silk satin type of material. I went further with this (epilogue below this first attempt):

Followers as Zombies, "take one"
(detail of Flag Day Parade II)

© 2015

Notice that I changed the title as it no longer has to do with flag day!

Epilogue (written on June 27, 2015) ...
So after I thought I had finished this piece, I kept thinking about it. I felt I needed to put her in a royal velvet color (like dark red), turn her livery color into gold and dress it up with gems. I also put a crown on her head. This makes her a bone fide royal!

Some of the zombie coloring seemed too bright (popsicle colors) and the background reds were distracting too.

Notice I also changed the sign to say "ENTER CITY" instead of "CITY CENTER".

So this is the end result:

Followers as Zombies
(final)

© 2015