Love is in the air….

Wishing everyone a peaceful, magical and blessed Valentine’s Day!

Lillypond Fairy Lovers

For the Love of Trees : Drawings Paintings and Jewelry inspired by these noble Nature elements

This is my latest Tree artwork  “Tree of Love”

It is available as a beautiful print here.

It is also available as a gorgeous tattoo design here.

~ I have a thing for trees, as do so many people. I’ve depicted Trees in many forms and media; they are such integral elements of the environment, and resonate so strongly with humans. They are truly one of the great nature archetypes and possess much symbolism and sacred energy. You can see my Tree Range of art & jewelry here.

“Tree Spirits”

~ this lovely image depicts two lovers, growing from separate roots, into one beautiful canopy filled with life.

The print, as well as the original watercolour painting, are available for sale.

“Tree of Life”

This is my business logo, but was originally created as a T-Shirt design, which you can buy here.

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“Dryad”

This powerful image of a woman in a tree has resonated with many women who have bought my art. She represents the feminine divine energy in nature, linking earth and sky. It is available as a beautiful print here.

I also have made a lovely little whimsical drypoint etching of a Dryad (or tree spirit)

And, of course, there are my Tree of Life jewellery pieces,  which have been cast into lead free pewter from my original wax carving     –   all for sale here.

Tree Choker Necklace

Tree Keychain

Tree Brooch

Tree Pendant

My love affair with trees continues. I am blessed to have lived in nature reserves surrounded by trees, both here in the Upper Mississippi valley, and also in the stunning Blue Mountains, Australia.

They will continue to inspire me, and keep me company as I journey onward in my creative endeavours!

“Foggy Trees” Pikes Peak, McGregor, Iowa, by my husband – round the corner from our little home..

Thanks for stopping by!

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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Unicorn Magic the art of Fantasy the power of Imagination

Never before has there been such a need for magic in the world. But there is magic ~ all around us and most of all, inside us, if we just choose to see and experience it.

Here is my magic Unicorn, held by a Maiden. The Unicorn can only be approached by a human of pure spirit. In the midst of the darkness, there is a stronger Light. It is the magic that is the creative Human Being, dreaming a more gentle and enlightened path, conjuring up the true spirit of Creation: Love and endless potential. The original is for sale here.

I have always lived very much within my Imagination, creating fantasy realms and expressing this with my art on many different levels. I believe that Magical Realism is not just a creative genre, it is a way of Life. Unicorns are the ultimate symbol of this magical realm, that resied within us, and exists with that

…and more unicorns, on t-shirts and other things

Thank you for visiting ! Please, share the love, share your Light, and live the Magic 🙂

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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

Sumi-e dragonfly original brush paintings to go!

I’ve created some new paintings featuring beautiful Dragonflies, done in Sumi-e  Japanese / Chinese brush style on acid-free handmade mulberry bark paper which has a lovely silky surface texture.

These original one-off watercolour paintings are all available for $30 or under in my Esty Shop

I love creating anything to do with dragonflies : they have a unique meaning across many cultures, symbolising transformation, ressurrection and enlightenment as they are born wriggling in the water, and transmute into stunning winged creatures of the air…..

You can see more of my original Dragonfly Artwork and Jewelry design here.

Thank you for stopping by – I’ll soon be posting more new paintings in an Owl extravaganza !

Whimsical Mermaid painting : Ulysses Muse !

My latest painting springs from the imagining of a wonderful and epic story of a voyage in Ancient times. Ulysses – known as Odysseus in his Greek persona –  is a mythological sea-faring hero and warrior who managed to hear the seductive song of the devastatingly beautiful but deadly Sirens whilst avoiding being drowned by them.

He was on his way back home to his Grecian island kingdom of Ithaca in the Ionian sea after fighting in the Trojan War, and his incredible adventures have become legendary. My interest in this story, which may have very well been based on factual events in prehistory, stems from the fact that my Greek ancestry goes back just two generations to this beautiful little Greek island. It was from there that my grandparents immigrated to South Africa in the 1930’s, and my great-great grandfather sailed the surrounding Mediterranean seas right up into the Black sea as a merchant sailor, captaining his very own ship.

In this watercolor and pigment colored pencil and wax resist painting, I’ve depicted one of the Sirens as a mermaid, who has Ulysses’ soul in her heart as she sings her exquisite song to him ~ perhaps she is in love with him…perhaps it is she who inspires him to keep going on his voyage home despite all the trials he endures. I imagine her as being almost doll-like, as a marionette mermaid…

As always in my paintings, there is much expressive movement, along with little details hidden away for the viewer to discover. For the colour palette I enjoyed using corals, salmon pinks, tones of blue grey for the stormy sky and highlights of creamy yellow. These colors are very inspired by my own visit to the Greek islands, where everything is imbued by a mystical, magical hue that is timeless.

I wanted to keep the feeling of this magic, with a whimsy that always surrounds mythological tales, especially ones about mermaids, the sea, heros and the longing of love….

The original painting is for sale here.

Stunning archival art prints are for sale here.

Tree of Life tattoo design and other unique tattoo designs, and copyright laws

I have been doing a lot of tattoo designs over the last two years, as outlined in a previous post. I’ve enjoyed it so much that I have opened up an Etsy store selling my own original tattoo designs.

Red owl tattoo design

It is a work in progress, so I am hoping to create an add more this year. It takes a lot of time to create a tattoo design, and often people don’t understand the level of work involved in drawing up a unique image, whether it is for a custom tattoo, or an original drawing, painting, logo design, all artists invest a huge amount of time, energy and skill into creating original artwork.

 

Fairy tattoo design

My original Tree of Life drawing has been used numerous times as a tattoo design. This is a great honour for me when someone loves my art so much as to place it permanently onto their bodies. However, it is very disheartening when my image has been taken off the internet without my permission, and has been used as a tattoo or any other reproduction. All artist’s original work is protected by copyright laws, and to use an artist’s original image in any way without their permission is illegal.

 

Tree of Life tattoo design

The Tree of Life drawing is a very unique image I created; Trees are for me one of the most beautiful of Nature’s creations to draw – you can see a woman in this tree, and the sun and moon on either side of her with little creatures in the branches. She is this tree’s soul…….This image is available as a print here,  or you can buy it as a tattoo design here.

Often artists who have their work on the internet protect it by using low resolutions and/or copyright text over their images. Again, purchasing artwork from an artist does not mean the buyer has the copyrights to use that image except what the artists has expressly allowed them.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to add any comments you may have !

A Silver Cat picture, and a little Dog portrait

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.

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“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!

Dachshund Painting, and other Animal Portraits

“Simon”

As I had mentioned in a previous post, I love to do portrait commissions.

I am currently working on this little painting of a Dachshund, done in a whimsical Folk art style, for an upcoming exhibition at my local art gallery. It is based on a wonderful dog my family owned called Simon, who loved to run outside and chase all sorts of creatures in his path. He was a very special pet, and this is my tribute to him.

I have done a few animal portraits in the past, and am always inspired to capture its spirit in a style that reflects its uniqueness. Here are some of them – and I do have a penchant for owls and cats! I do custom commissions for any kind of portrait, painting, tattoo design etc – please contact me if you are interested.