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

a dragon confides in a fairy

A DRAGON CONFIDES IN A FAIRY

digital art

© Lise Winne 2016

new! Prints available in any size, from 6" x 8" up to 30" x 40". Available on 

canvas, acrylic, giclee, etc. Through the same link, products are also for sale with this item (cell phone cover, apparel, etc). Go HERE for both prints and products).

For a home printed giclee print which is hand signed, I will be putting that up for sale soon (check back on this page)

For the rest of this post, I describe a little of how I made this piece by showing "work in progress" details.

This is how it all started, by spotting these two figures having a tete a tete at a Renaissance faire:

A DRAGON CONFIDES IN A FAIRY

(raw photo)

Naturally I hated the background, so I took the figures out of their environment.

Why did I do that?

Does a sidewalk that mere mortals walk on belong here? No, of course not. Do fairies enjoy gravel? No way. Though I did save a touch of gravel here and there in the final piece. 

Fairies are small creatures, and they do best in an environment where plants are bigger in size than they are. Dragons tend to be huge, but since this one has sneakers, he could be a dragon at the toddler stage.

This is the basic environment I gave them (I decided to save the basket and chair too from the original photo):

A DRAGON CONFIDES IN A FAIRY

(preliminary I)

Better. They seem to fit in naturally in an environment of weeds, brambles and small flowers.

You may not be able to tell, but I also gave the fairy more of a complexion; she was looking awfully pale.

There was still something missing. 

The dragon's suit, though cute, resembles a workman's coverall a little too much. So, I gave him more reptilian skin. The scales on his tale also needed some texture, so I took care of that. Then his wings were a little too drab, so I brightened them up and put a few sparks in them.

The fairy still wasn't magical enough (for me). So I made her wings glow and put some luminaries around her. 

If you look closely at the next enhanced photo, you'll notice that the fairy's basket has some sparkles too.  

The background and foreground needed a lot more flowers. So I grabbed flowers from a photo shoot I did in Maine awhile back at this magical little garden with exotic flowers. Not that you can tell they are exotic. What mattered was that I could incorporate them.

Also, when a dragon talks, he has to have fire coming out of his mouth. A dragon would not be a dragon without that element, so the fire was a necessity. So I took a photo of a flame on a light background and put it on its side. The fire part of this piece was the most difficult to master. Fire is not a solid object. There are places where you can see through it and places where you can't. It also does not shoot straight out, which is what it looked like when I first started. So making it curve toward the sky was another challenge.

Also, around the dragons face, it needed to be brighter, since fire would light it up. 

The dragon also seemed to need smoke around it. After all, its innards are full of fire (right?), so it has to be smokin' from head to toe in some manner!

This was what I thought would be the final piece:

A DRAGON CONFIDES IN A FAIRY

(preliminary II)

And I was happy with it for awhile. 

Then I wasn't happy. For days I couldn't tell what it needed. It just seemed to be missing something! 

Then it dawned on me: the chair had nothing on it. A fairy wouldn't just use it to sit on, would she? She would place something on it while she went to talk to the dragon. Fairies are very busy, so they have to multi-task.

What would be the perfect thing for the chair? A flower, of course:

    A DRAGON CONFIDES IN A FAIRY

(preliminary II)

That is a real flower, just in case you wanted to know. But here it looked like a pom-pom.

No, no, no, that wouldn't do. 

It took an entire evening to put that flower in there too, but it just wasn't the right kind of flower.

So, out it went. 

So I searched my files and came up with this one instead:

 A FAIRY's CHAIR WITH A FLOWER

Better. And I did put some shadowing under the flower and its stem to make it sit and belong in its environment. But if you check the final piece (first picture above), I made the flower a little more purple so that it wouldn't detract from the fairy and her companion. Here it seems to be shouting out; it is just so neon -- and the dragon does not need to be distracted by the fairy's bright flower. 

Next time, I'll be attempting to do something with this photograph: 

FAIRY, WIZARD, KNIGHT and FAIR MAIDEN QUE
(preliminary I)

Until next time ...

   

fairy riding an egg and Easter bunny

Fairy Riding an Egg and Easter Bunny

© 2015

Newest Easter card design.

For those who happen upon this blog, I am moving listings like this to my own website for purchase. For those of you wishing to purchase wholesale or retail, contact me at sales (att) LiseWinne.com (use the @ symbol instead of att, of course ... disguise needed to keep out e-mail miners) until I am fully moved. 

Thanks!