Blue Bird and Fairy painting Little Friends inspired by Victorian fairy art

I’ve always had a deep love for the whimsical children’s book fairy art of the Victorian era, and have a lovely collection of classic stories illustrated by Arthur Rackham, Kate Greenaway, Beatrix Potter and Walter Crane, to name a few.

Arthur Rackham remains my biggest inspiration for his inimitable style, his illustrations being rich in whimsy, detail, lyricism, with gothic darkness and fantastical elements blended in…

 

 

I recently discovered a gorgeous Australian illustrator of a slightly later time, Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, whose  illustrations are just as delightful. A contemporary of similar Australian artist May Gibbs, Ida’s art is utterly charming, featuring the sweetest fairies and sprites all in beautifully imagined settings amidst trees, flowers and butterflies. I immediately fell in love with her way of depicting little folk in relationship with nature elements, often showing fairies with frogs, birds and rabbits.

 

 

Her work inspired me to paint a little whimsical picture of a Bird and a Fairy, similar to one of hers, sitting together in cosy friendship on a branch of cherry blossoms.

We get BlueBirds occasionally at our birdbath, and they are so bright and magical to see, so I thought it would be fitting for such a bird to have an equally enchanting friend to cuddle up to.

 

 

It started off with a pencil and pink pen outline on my favourite Stonehenge paper, keeping note of the movement and flow that I wanted with the blossoms and branches.

 

 

Then, lightly colouring it with layers of watercolours and coloured pencil: this stage in itself could have been the finished painting, but I wanted a bolder more detailed artwork.

 

 

The finished painting has been further layered with colored pencil, gouache and watercolours. I kept the color palette fairly simple with corals, blues, pinks and greens. It measures 4 x 6 inches, and is available as a lovely art print, perfect for a children’s room, in my online shop here.

Thanks for visiting, take care and stay well!

 

A magical portrait of a beautiful Lady….

I love doing special portraits for people, and last month I was asked by a wonderful customer if i would paint a portrait of her as a fairy, with unicorns and surrounded by magical, elvin inspired elements.

                      Of course, I said I’d love to!

Painting portraits do take quite some time, and seeing as we were working to a budget I suggested that we use a photo that she really liked of herself, and I could use that as the basis upon which to paint the fairy and magical theme.

I used photoshop to print her photo portrait onto the Stonehenge watercolour paper I always use to paint on.

Then, I outlined the portrait composition with all the elements she’d like, including special flowers and majestic dragonfly-fairy wings, and filled in a light colour wash.

 

…..I included two flower fairies placing a garland above her head….

 

…..and some little nature spirits (hidden – you need to look closely!)

 

She was thrilled with the end result, and I was absolutely delighted to have captured the essence of this lovely woman whom I have come to know as a friend.

If you would like a magical portrait done, please contact me. I can work around any budget starting from $75 – and can do couples, pets and children as well.

Thanks for stopping by, and have an magical day!

My Garden Fairy ~ the inspiration of nature, creativity and art

One of my biggest joys is spending time in my beloved garden. I talk to the flowers, trees, birds, bees and other animals that visit, but there is another little spirit that resides here that is harder to see…

This whimsical fairy was created with watercolours and dried pressed flowers that I picked from my garden: petunia, lilly, rose and pansy petals amongst others. I also included mulberry ink from our beautiful old mulberry tree’s bountiful supply.

You can see the remarkable detail of the petals’ veins in the prints.

She sits amongst the mushrooms and flowers, keeping watch on all the elements that grow in this magical realm.

She is part of an exhibit at The Left Bank Shop & Gallery in my hometown of McGregor, Iowa. The exhibit, “Local Inspiration” features work of selected gallery artists interpreting local themes. She is for sale there, or you can buy a gorgeous archival reproduction print here on my website Liza Paizis.com/Fairies

 

Thank you for visiting, and have a magical day !

 

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Autumn Poetry & Inspiration

The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry’s cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.

Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I’ll put a trinket on.

~ The Inspired Emily Dickenson ~

Autumn Angel & Fairy Art and Moth Art Deco necklace © LizaPaizis.com

Miniature original watercolor paintings

For some time now I’ve been creating these cute little original miniature watercolor paintings, previously outlined in this post.

         Burmese Cat original miniature painting

 

     Little Cardinal  miniature painting               

Using pigment colored pencils and ink pens, tube watercolor (I use Rembrandt & Van Gogh watercolors) and a combination of beautiful handmade mulberry bark paper and rough textured watercolour paper, I create them with little to no preliminary sketching – it keeps the process spontaneous!

      Fairy Queen miniature painting

Each little painting measures 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 inches, and I put them in a little matt, perfect for gift giving! I love painting cats, flowers and owls especially, but have also done dragonflies, unicorns and fairies.

                       Unicorn original miniature painting

They are exclusively for sale at Outside the Lines Gallery in Dubuque, Iowa ~ a lovely gallery filled with very unique and local art. If you would like a custom order for any of my unique and original paintings, please contact me on my website contact page or check out my originals for sale here.

Thanks for visiting!

       Sleepy Owl miniature painting

Portrait Painting Progress….

This is the painting of Maggie so far – in my previous post I described the beginnings of this work.

Here, I have layered the watercolour on Stonehenge ivory paper, and filled in more details, like the fairy by the peony top right, and the cats. I have begun to blend the dried flowers in with painted flowers, too. I will be doing more of this, as well as filling out her hair, adding more small details and subtle highlights. What I love to do is basically free-form the painting; I have an idea of colours and composition, but mostly it’s a process of playing with the paint, with the flow and feel of the painting….you can click on it to view it closer up.

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.