Fairy Day Winner!

The winner of the Fairy Day Drawing is Shelly!

Here is the newly completed prize magnet. She is a fairy named Lumi, which is Finnish for snow. Nearly every color on her is pearlized, metallic or glittery.

The overall design is structured like a yin-yang completed by her asymmetrical crown and broach adorned with diamond crystals.

Fairy Day Contest

This year will be my 2nd annual Fairy Day Drawing to win a hand painted magnet specially made in honor of Fairy Day on June 24th.

Search through this blog to find the hidden Fairy Day question and e-mail you answer to marie.de.carabas@gmail.com. I will then enter your name in the drawing to be held on June 24th.

I will also enter the name of anyone who purchases one of the Strange Creatures magnets, places a custom order or an order from Cafe Press (if you order from cafe Press you will need to e-mail me with the details) between now and midnight June 23rd. You will receive one entry for each hand painted item. Cafe Press orders will receive one entry per order.

Just like last year I will post pictures of the magnet when it is finished. Right now it is still and idea in my head. Good luck all you fairy lovers!

Waiting for Spring

This box was actually finished quite a few weeks ago. Life kept getting in my way of getting the pictures posted up here. Sorry for such along break without something new to share:)

At the time I was painting her it was the tail end of winter and I pictured her sitting on that branch waiting for the trees buds to open.

I wish I could figure out a better way to photograph metallics. The sides of this box are a rich combination of gold, bronze and copper and her hair is a molten bronze. Her wings are those of a monarch butterfly.

I also started something new with this project. Before starting on the sketch I drew one of my Faerie Oracle cards for a guiding inspiration. It gives me a new way to look at things and hopefully is fun for the recipient.

The card I drew was Ekstasis which represents Ecstasy, Joy, Rapture and Motivation. It's suggestion is go for it, you are on the right path. Great joy and accomplishment are within reach. It also represents the music that connects everything within the cosmos. I think she is poised at the moment before the ecstatic promise of Spring is fulfilled.

Wisteria Morning

This tiny 4" x 6" painting was an experiment with painting on a new sort of board.

These girlfriend fairies are inspired by all the lovely ladies at Wisteria Lane on Delphi and the fun we all have comparing our makeup for the day and shooting the breeze over out morning coffee. Their wings are based on the Barred Orange Tip and Southern Dogface butterflies.

The image itself is very loosely based on the iconic cherubs at the bottom of The Sistine Madonna.

This image is available on Cafe Press.

Magic Carpet Ride

This tooth fairy harkens back to my original transportation series of tooth fairies. In fact a little proto-doodle of him has been hanging around for almost a year waiting for just the right boy.

He is, of course, inspired by One Thousand and One Nights one of my favorite collections of folk tales.

I love how joyful he appears soaring through the night sky. He ended up in a complete rainbow of colors...as always not quite what I planned but it really suits his personality and compliments his bright blue eyes.

The Elf King's Bride

This painting was based on a sketch I did probably 10 years ago. It was a single page left in a notebook that lives on my desk waiting for me to do something with it.

The bird she holds is another double winged bird like the one in the Strange Creatures series. He is such a character to me that I had to use him again.

This painting is currently available on Cafe Press in several forms including a tile topped box.

Knight of the Mangrove

This is the first of what will hopefully be many full scale paintings.

This tiny knight is based on a butterfly called the Mangrove Skipper. As always it found an entirely different image than I had in mind. Originally she was going to have black hair and, although I still had the insectoid plates in mind for her armor, it too was going to be dark. As it turns out the Knight of the Mangrove is a creature of light. She also became more androgynous in each incarnation. The only thing that really stayed true to the first sketch was her face.

It is currently available for sale as a print or on several other items at Cafe Press. You can find it by clicking on the Cafe Press logo on the side bar.