Wishing everyone a peaceful, magical and blessed Valentine’s Day!
fantasy art
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 !
A Mermaid’s Dream watercolour romantic meditation painting
An experimental / meditation painting about a Mermaid dreaming of her lover….
The Original Painting is for sale ~ at a steal for only $225 on my website.
~ I wanted to depict a very expressive mood and just had fun with brushstrokes, detail, flow and movement.
The print is available on my website in various sizes, here.
Thank you for visiting !
A Love of Drawing in Detail….
This is an older artwork that I recently found while tidying up my studio. It was done with a Rotring technical drawing pen and watercolour washes.
My first love was drawing in black and white – I love to do intricate detail as a form of meditation, and the Rotring pen provides a nice stable line with a dependable flow of pigment ink.
This lovely drawing depicts the greek myth of Poseidon and Amphitrite, a sea nymph. Poseidon had to persuade her to be his lover, and enlisted the help of Delphin the dolphin god to bring her to him. As a reward, Poseidon turned Delphin into the star constellation we see today as Delphinus.
It is available as a gorgeous archival print here.
Thanks for stopping by!
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 mermaid paintings in watercolours and ink
I’ve been delighting in one of my favoutire subjects: Mermaids.
I cannot get enough of these sensual fantastical creatures; I am sure most girls at some point in their lives believed they were a mermaid, trapped in a human body….
I’ve been using some lovely 300gsm heavyweight textured watercolour paper to make these little miniature mermaid paintings.
I am also using pen & ink, watercolours from tubes as well as Derwent watercolour pencils for highlights.
I’ve been selling them on Artfinder, a wonderful site where you can buy a diverse range of original art, sculpture and photography, from all over the world. It’s a great way to meet fellow artists, too!
I am also currently working on a study for a new romantic painting of a Mermaid and her Lover….please check back for an update with pictures for that soon ~
Thanks for stopping by….!
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
The Owlings portrait of two sisters in watercolor : Magical Realism painting
This is my new painting, titled “The Owlings”
This lovely whimsical painting was inspired by a folk-style portrait of two girls I saw from the 1800’s.
It was a tradtion in former times for parents to place a coral necklaces on children as coral was thought to protect the wearer from ill health and harm.
I love the style of Magical Realism painting, where is the subject matter is often blurred between realism and a strong nuance of the quirky or magical.
This painting is primarily done in watercolours, with touches of gold, silver and coloured pigment ink.
I particularly enjoyed painting the two sisters, as it is a dedication to my own sister and the beautiful spirit of sisterhood…
….who knows what they, and their little totem owls within their arms are thinking?
Paintings like this one are so very special that I only release a small amount of print reproductions of them. The edition of this size print of the painting is only 50 prints and is available for sale here.
The original painting is also for sale – please contact me for more information. Thanks for visiting !
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