A Fairy for Natalie

April 8, 2020

A Fairy For Natalie

Natalie, Josephine and Camellia

My first post is about my first watercolor painting.

The story behind it is simple.  My granddaughters love fairies.  They love to dress like them, hear stories of them, and pretend to be them.

In my children’s book, “The Moon Has a Tune”, fairies play a role in the background of the tale.  Natalie, my oldest granddaughter, loves that the story includes fairies.  As a matter of fact, when she comes to my house for a visit, she manages to find the painting I created of the fairies amongst all my other artwork for my book, and places the canvas on my easel, swapping out anything that I happen to be working on at the time.

I have included my first watercolor in the top left, created for Natalie with her choice of colors.  Until recently, my medium of choice has been acrylics, however, it takes a long time to layer and dry, but it is still one of my favorite methods.  I tried using watercolors simply because I was in a hurry and wanted to paint something quickly before a visit to her house.  I found I loved painting with them.  What fun to watch the colors run and merge and dry so quickly.  Since then, I have painted a series of watercolors.  Each one has a little story behind it which I will share in upcoming posts.

Beneath The Autumn Moon

I’ve included to the right, Natalie’s favorite painting (an acrylic) from my book which I referenced earlier.  When I began, this painting, I wasn’t sure where it was going.  I knew that I wanted to include the moon in all it’s glory with fairies dancing in the moonlight, playing music, and celebrating its magic.  While painting, I found myself creating a fairy for each one of my grandchildren so they could be part of the story and know that they will always be connected to it.

I love experiencing the unraveling of creativity.  Going with the flow can move you from one thing to the next bringing into reality anything you can imagine.