I painted this baby fairy during our last mother-daughter painting session. She was a quick study on darker skin tones . I’m particularly pleased with her curly hair, which I painted with quick strokes and in a much looser style than I normally paint. This painting is based on a tutorial in Barbara Lanza’s book, “Enchanting Fairies: How to Paint Charming Fairies and Flowers.”
My niece asked me to paint another fantasy illustration, so this one’s for you Jenny. This painting is based on a tutorial from “How to Draw and Paint Fairyland,” by Linda Ravenscoft. My palette consisted of alizarin crimson, opera rose, new gamboge, naples yellow, and raw umber from Winsor Newton; brilliant red violet and may green from Schmincke (I’m really loving this brand of paint); and jaune brilliant no. 2 from Holbein (this makes great skin tones).
Here’s a close up of her face (I like how you can see the texture of the paper in this shot):
And here’s a shot with the natural, late afternoon light in my studio (I like this one best):
Afternoon Artist 