~ Adamus ~
Wishing you a Magical New Year filled with new adventures and expansive experiences!
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!
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 !
Know what makes you laugh and keep those things close to you.
Know who likes to share laughter and keep them close
to your heart.
~ Kuthumi ~
Wishing Everyone a truly blessed and happy New Year !
Watercolour, pastel and acrylic painting.
Begun about 10 years ago…finished now.
…when we need more light to shine in this world 🙂
remember Your own light and Divinity within !
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 !
I have completed two new works for an exhibition titled “It’s Raining Cats, Dogs and Cows”
at my wonderful local art gallery The McGregor Marquette Centre for the Arts.
“Silver Cat”
This is Pewter Repousse or embossing, a lovely form of art which I learned in my home country of South Africa. It is a very popular craft there, and I immediately took to it, as I love working with pewter in any form. I have made many jewellery pieces cast in pewter from my original wax carvings, it is considered a semi-precious metal, and it very mouldable, shiny and has a gorgeous feel to it.
This piece measures about 9 x 7 inches, and it’s basically a form of relief modelling with this soft metal, pushing out from the back as well as the front to give shape and detail.
*
“Simon”
This is the completed Dachshund watercolor and ink painting shown in my earlier post. It is available for sale as an archival giclee print here.
I loved to use gentle line work in the sky reminiscent of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” , with naive art style motifs to match the gorgeous frame I found especially for it. Both of these original framed pieces are for sale – please contact me if you are interested!
My portrait of Maggie is finished ! As described in my previous two posts, after sketching the initial outlines in pencil, I free-formed the rest of the composition, continuing to layer the watercolours, working around the dired pressed flowers, adding more detail to the peony fairy and the hair, more flowers, and brushstrokes reminiscent of those of Vincent Van Gogh, whose artwork Maggie loves.
Below is a detailed excerpt of the painting – please click on it for a larger view – it is a blend of watercolor, dried flowers and s mall touch of Caran d’Ache colored pigment pencil for highlights. The paper is Stonehenge smooth textured paper. I mostly use Rembrandt or Van Gogh watercolors, with touches of Chinese white for highlights. I am looking forward to my next painting – please keep an eye on my blog for my next project. You can purchase a beautiful print of this painting from my shop here.
Thanks for visiting!
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.
Liza Paizis Original Art and Jewelry Blog 