Tuesday 15 October 2013

Erecura the Guardian

This artwork is for Life Book 2013 wk36, a catch up lesson for me. As usual, I deviated a bit from the lesson and ended up with a bit of a Celtic feel to this painting. Erecura is the Celtic Earth Goddess and I thought she would fit this painting perfectly. After returning from Ireland recently, I was still missing everybody terribly, especially our new granddaughter.Therefore, this is a little reference to them.

Tamara Laporte mentions in her class how sometimes she is conflicted with being a painter or an illustrator. I can identify totally as I would like to be more of a messy painter. More often than not, before I know it, I am leaning on the illustration side of things. Not to say that is a bad thing but sometimes it is good to not paint in between the lines or get bogged down with details.





Here is an earlier page of mine from Life Book 2013, notice the stencil in the background, I patted off the dylusions inks left on the front of the stencil onto spare watercolour paper, to use at a later stage. Instead of staring at a blank page this can come in useful when you don't have a clear pallet or focal point. In my case, I just hate wasting good inks!







After sketching my idea onto the textured paper, I used white gesso primer to block out the background on the main figures.




Just starting to get in the base colours for the skin tones using acrylics and caran d'ache watersoluble crayons.




After painting in the fawn, I added gesso primer around the figures and used a brayer to blend it in. I then turned my attention to the hair which I am not quite feeling yet and decided to give her a bit of a windswept look. Be mindful when working on top of dylusions inks, as they will bleed when moisture is added on top of them.




For this Life Book lesson we were supposed to use a transfer either using a printed transparency sheet or a paper print out. It was a particularly hot day here and the paint on my brush was drying out quicker than I could paint! So not ideal conditions for using the transfer method. Instead I drew this Celtic design, scanned it into Photoshop added the green gem and printed it out. After spraying it with workable fixative to set the inks, I painted over it to blend it in more with the painting.

I thought a pair of deer antlers on the girl would work well with this piece and then continued around the image adding the final touches.






Well, I was trying to aim for messy in this painting but as you can see I ended up somewhere in the middle! I don't think it is so easy getting that detail girl out of me haha! How about you? What type of artist are you? Have you changed your style, was the transition easy? I would like to hear about it!

Also in the past I have tried transfers using gel medium or hand sanitizer with a printed transparency sheet or a paper print out. I haven't had great results and I was just wondering have you had any experience with transfers? As always comments are welcomed and encouraged.

Enjoy your week, thanks for stopping by.
Until next time, happy creating!


22 comments:

  1. Ohhh Myyyy! Serena, I just have no words to describe how much I adore this piece! Not only the subject matter is so endearing and enchanting, but your technique and drawing/painting ability are just superb!
    Such great ideas, their closed eyes and the shadowing on them, their sweet and loving expressions, and then the details that you added, the antlers, her braids, her hair that you draw and paint so well, this is just stunning and it really does have an Irish feel about it. Great background!
    I am like you, try to be messy but I'm all about detail, and it's so hard for me to change and do loose paintings, my best intentions always end up being so much work, and detail prevails I'm afraid!
    CONGRATULATIONS on this Serena, another typical masterpiece of yours!

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    1. Aww Marta, I wish I could articulate in words as well as you how much I appreciate your gorgeous comments. Thanks again, glad you enjoyed it! x

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  2. Hi Serena, You don't have a messy bone in your body, lol ! :-)
    Fabulous blog post and great work as always - I love the detail and care you put in to everything that you do.

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    1. I think you are probably right Steven, the little details always seem to sneak their way in haha! Thanks so much, I am grateful for your opinion. x

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  3. So beautiful, I love her hair soooooo much! Your paintings are brilliant ! I have never heard of gesso premier, what is that?

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    1. Thanks Jackie, I am quoting what it says on the tub - "Gesso primer is acrylic based for preparing porous painting surfaces such as canvas, paper, card and wood. Once dry, may be painted over with oils or acrylics and cleaned up with water." The one I am currently using is a cheaper brand and not one I would recommend. Golden Gesso is on my list next. Hope this helps! x

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  4. Thanks jenlynnie, I mentioned in the post I was very homesick while painting this, so it was a good to get some of those feelings down in paint. x

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  5. Beautiful artwork. Your girl is amazing ♥

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  6. Wow ... she is stunning. New to your blog ... totally inspired!

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    1. I am glad you like it AuBien and thanks for checking out the blog. x

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  7. Another new to your blog and amazed and love this page. Beautiful girl, and I have a fondness for Celtic. Love the art and music. Would love to know some details on this stencil also.

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    1. Thanks for your lovely comments Debbie. I got the stencil from the dollar shop here in Australia. There was no name on the stencil, it is by PORTACraft and is a self - adhesive stencil. Their website is www.portacraft.com.au, now I have had a quick look at the site but it doesn't show any stencils, you might have to get in touch with them. x

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  8. Hi Serena, this is just so beautiful. I love the sweet expression on both your girl and little fawn - so very delightful. I was so excited to see how you used your dylusions inks here - I have just started experimenting and I so love the softness of colour you have created here. Thank you for sharing your techniques, artwork and thoughts. You really must consider having some classes/workshops as I would so love to spend some time in your "artistic presence". xx

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  9. Thanks Julie, you are very kind. Apart from teaching on Life Book 2014 next year, I have no plans just yet to do my own classes/workshops. That's not to say it is not going to happen at some point. Trying to get a lot more things sorted out at present. Keep an eye on the blog! x

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    1. I am going to do Life Book 2014 which is very exciting. Best wishes with your "sorting out". xx

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    2. Haha! will do! Great to hear you are joining Life Book, I will see you there! x

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  10. Wow! My first time visit to your blog. I am completely blown away with your artwork. This is just stunning. I've done the last 2 Life Books I can't really afford another atm, so sorry I won't get to work with your class. I look forward to visiting your beautiful blog again. So happy to find you and your inspirational artwork. Happy creating, Gez

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    1. Thank you Gez, for your lovely feedback, sorry you won't get the chance to do next years Life Book. Hopefully you have learnt a few things to continue on with your own creative journey. Yes it would be great if you could come back and visit the blog. Happy creating! x

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  11. I just adore your work. Erecura with the Fawn is truly beautiful.

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    1. Thank you Cathe, much appreciated and thanks for stopping by.x

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