Rainbow Fairy

Little One is so excited to see rainbows! Unlike many of us, she doesn’t mind the rain at all during the daytime because she tells herself that after the rain, the sun appears, and what happens? Rainbows then emerge, turning the sky into a prism of colors! And we all love colors don’t we? And this is the time when Little One pretends to be a fairy. And out she goes dressed as a pretty fairy, complete with crown and feathers too, worshiping the rainbow! And of course I wanted to paint about this.

The Background

This inspiration actually emerged whilst following Juliette Crane’s Serendipity I classes. Unit is called Art Journaling in which we use the opportunity to experiment with various mediums and play around with them. Nothing new to me, of course, but it’s so much fun to work together! First a bit of scribbling around on Strathmore’s Mixed Media sketchbook with some yellow, blue and green acrylic inks before randomly gluing on some bits of pink wrapping tissue. That arch then led me to imaging it being part of a rainbow and hence I began developing it into one. The rest followed, as I began on the character’s face (Little One) by cutting out an oval-shaped collage out of Japanese language newspaper and painting over it with a skin-toned blend of Quinacridone Azo Nickel Gold and Titanium White.

Further Developments

And as I progressed, Little One was emerging. The outlines were sketched in with some black marking pencil. I added another piece of pink wrapping tissue as I decided upon creating wings. The cloud and the sun were then introduced as I also dressed Little One up in a cute gown and thought a crown with feathers would be sweet. With some Cobalt Teal and Gold Green, the sky and the ground, respectively, were filled in. So far looking good!

Finishing it Up

And now the finishing touches. I was quite keen on trying out my Old Holland iridescent acrylic paint here. Apparently, they are one of the top quality which is why I have been holding off painting with them for some time. They are there to be used, of course, and hence, I went for the Iridescent Purple for the dress. Then the eyes were filled in with the Iridescent Jade, and wow!! I see why they are considered the top! A bit was also dotted on the leaves of the flower. For the crown, the wings and the sun, I experimented with some candy foil wrapper in gold, and another wow! That I shall definitely be using again. The gold leaf effect looks pretty cool! A few dots of fluorescent red holbein acryla gouache on the crown top and flower center, and I was good to go.

So much fun following Juliette Crane’s Serendipity I classes! This creation was as said earlier from the lesson, Art Journaling. The concept is nothing new to me, as I do paint on my sketchbook a lot already, but this lesson certainly got my creative juices flowing. It is amazing what surprise awaits with my characters whenever I take her classes. If only I had more time to spare following them more often! Now I’ve finally gotten around to working on my next lesson. Can’t wait to see what other kawaii creations I can come up with!

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