I really enjoyed painting this hydrangea fairy, although it was time consuming to paint all those petals. This is my first attempt at painting a red head. I was a skeptical that I could pull it off without ending up with a garish orange instead of lovely shades of red, but I think I pulled it off splendidly. For the fairy’s hair I used a combination of Indian red, Chinese orange, burnt umber, and caput mortuum violet, then added a light wash of Chinese orange on top, which really made her lovely red locks come alive. For the shading on the stem and dress, I used indigo and then added a wash of sap green. I’ll be using that combination of colors again–love it.
This painting is based on a tutorial in Barbara Lanza’s book, “Enchanting Fairies: How to Paint Charming Fairies and Flowers.” Here’s a close-up view:
Nice 🙂
Thanks, Nuno!
Your paintings are delightful.
Thanks, Pat. I really enjoy your work, too.
Fantastic!! Cin and I love the shading on EVERTHING. Cin especially likes the flower shading, but I can’t choose between the dress, the shaded wings, and the great hair—which looks like “natures highlights”!Really great job!!
Thanks, mom.
Utterly charming! Beautiful and delicate shading on the petals and wings and hair. And such a pretty, open face. I’ve seen so many otherwise lovely fairy images where the artist just doesn’t understand the face and it really does a disservice to the rest of the work. Beautiful hands and feet, too! (This is definitely an area I need to work on myself!)
Thanks, Cindy. Shading has always been my specialty and the part of painting and drawing that I most enjoy.
Beautiful. Love the soft colors. 😉
Thank you, Cynthia. I kept the colors on the fairy soft so they wouldn’t compete with the intense purples I used on the hydrangea.
The petals were worth the extra trouble-beautiful work!
Thanks, Elena. I did a multi-color wash over all the petals first then painted each petal with various shades of purple, allowing the underpainting to show through–definitely a technique I’ll use again on flowers.
Jill I just love this illustration!
Thanks so much, Tim.
This is gorgeous, Jill! You’ve done the details so beautifully – I especially love her fine strands of hair and delicate flower crown. Not to mention the delicateness of her wings and the lovely purple flowers – everything is perfect, I love it 🙂
Thanks, Caitie. I’ve had the drawing ready for a couple of months. I was waiting for the hydrangeas to be in bloom so I could post the painting at the same time.
Aww it’s so pretty 🙂
Thanks, Shree!
hI Jill, Love your light, delicate and colourful style and your poppies are so summery!
Thank you, Diane. My sister and/or daughter painted the poppies. I shared both of their paintings here, so I’m not sure which painting you viewed.
Hydrangea fairy is lovely.