New Woodland Fairy Mixed Media Paintings

I finished some new fairy paintings this weekend. My favourite part about painting these is that they are mixed media, so I get to use pieces of satin ribbon, leaf skeletons, sequins, silver lame… basically lots of fun materials.

I love fairyland style art, and have always liked fairy illustrations. I remember growing up reading The Magic Faraway Tree books by Enid Blyton, which featured a fairy whom I believe was called Silky.

Some of my inspiration has also come from the story of the young girls who fooled Arthur Conan Doyle with their ‘fairy photographs’- this story has been made into a movie too, called Photographing Fairies. The idea of those perfect paper fairies is very inspiring to me. I painted these on canvas, but perhaps I will try to incorporate paper fairies or drawings in my work soon too.

Thanks for looking!

Emily

You can see more about my fairy paintings on etsy, where I sell my work, here: Gold Garden Fairy and White Garden Fairy

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Lighthouse Art Pendant

I have been wanting to make this lighthouse pendant for a while. I bought the natural wood settings some time ago, in a mix of cherry and walnut woods. They were so lovely I wanted to make some really special pieces from them. I since decided on a longer length chain (32 inches) . I think part of this decision was that I like the feel of a necklace that is almost like a hanging pocket watch.

Last of all, I got the glass cabochons to match, and then I just needed the subject matter. I love lighthouse themed paintings, and had an instinct that it would work well in a small size- after all the actual painting in this is only a 1 inch circle. I’m happy with how this first necklace turned out, and currently sketching out some inspiration for more.

Lighthouse pendant listing on etsy

Large Night Carnival Painting in Black Ink

Another painting of a circus at night. I love this subject matter, as it allows me to indulge in my fondness for gothic fantasy. This painting is really huge by my standards. It is 70 cm by 54cm, which is about 20 by 27 inches. I  worked quite dilligently on the details here, and I am especially happy with how the tents turned out. I will need to go back to smaller pieces next though, as I don’t have much room in my home studio for pieces this size.

Hope everyone it having a lovely summer. Etsy link here

Lighthouse Paintings on Canvas

Lighthouse, Painting on Canvas, Emily Boylan, 2015

I hope everyone is having a lovely summer! The weather in Ireland is warmer than usual, unfortunately a bit humid at night too. I’ve been thinking about being by the sea, as I have a holiday planned in Cape Cod and Boston. Also, I was watching Jaws recently- that film looks so good (until the shark turns up!) Anyway, just wanted to share some of my latest seaside inspired paintings with you.

I tried this composition as a square too, and I think it works! It is rare to find a subject or composition equally suited to square and rectangular canvases, but I think this may be it, maybe because it is quite minimal.

I made one with some wooden ships too, just for variety. Anyway, I hope where-ever you are, you may get to enjoy the sea this summer.

Emily

Lighthouse Painting on etsy

Purple Dandelions Watercolour

I have needed to remember to make time for painting this weekend. I got completley sucked into a new series called ‘Bomb Girls’ on Sunday- which is made by a Canadian TV company, available on Netflix, and stars Meg Tilly. Without going too off topic, it’s a very good wartime drama about girls working in a bomb assembly factory, and I highly recommend the show.

Anyway, when I did get to painting, I had a few projects in mind. I have painted dandelions before, and purple flowers before, and both seemed popular in my etsy shop. In my recent foray into these sorts of paintings, I was working with ink, and the main hues are very simply just ultramarine and magenta, after that it is all about creating those purple tones. I couldn’t say if they are more like flowers or dandelions at this stage, they remind me of both personally.

I hope everyone else had a fun weekend too!

Emily

Purple Dandelions on etsy

Red Love Bird Painting

Love Bird Painting

I have been playing around with some new paint liners, using them over my watercolor paintings, and was inspired to create a new series of birds. I know real love birds are more of a light green colour, but these birds are more a product of my imagination, as well as a chance to experiment with colour, pattern and texture.

The thing I found the most fun was probably the feet, because I am making these funny, quite stylised shapes, which I think draw a little from tribal/ egyptian art or else folk art. I think they give the birds their own unique personality. Of course, so many artists paint birds, that it is hard to have a truly original take on them.

I enjoy the looseness of the watercolour heart also. I have been wanting to make more art that has a romantic tone, to balance out my range. So hopefully this is a step in the right direction. I hope everyone is enjoying the start of the summer. Still raining here in Ireland!

Emily

Etsy link

Girl in hat with flowers portrait painting

Girl in Hat with Flowers Portrait

This is another painting using gouache. This time, however I incorporated watercolour into the background to create more texture and a sense of depth. I’ve been doing a few of these portraits, from the imagination. The paper is Fabriano Rosapina 285 gsm, which is unsized and a lovely soft surface to work on. The only caveat on this paper is that is absorbs a lot of pigment (I have also painted on it with acrylic, and saw the same thing). It is really a print-making paper, but despite the absorbance I still love painting on it.

You can see in the background I layered strokes of sage (gouache) and leaf (watercolour) greens, with small daubs of marigold. I like the way the figure blends with the background, so the focus is on the face. Looking forward to experimenting more with this medium.

Etsy link

Gouache and Watercolour Flower Petal Paintings

Yellow Flower Petals painting by Emily Boylan 2015

I have recently begun to experiment with gouache paint. Previously, I have been very faithful to watercolour and ink. I enjoy acrylics too, but there is something about the immediacy and unpredictability of watercolour and ink that makes those paintings especially rewarding for me. I bought a set of designers’ gouache by Winsor and Newton, and have to say I was surprised on the high price for these smaller sized tubes of a paint that doesn’t lend itself to much dilution. I have heard people say that the reason gouache is more expensive to use than watercolour is because it is less widely used. I can see the point, though I do think gouache is undergoing a bit of a renaissance as contemporary artists are using it more and more now, especially in illustrative style works alongside ink and watercolour. Where inks provide transparency and overlays, gouache can contrast that with solidity and flatness. For one experiment, I drew inspiration from falling cherry blossom petals. I have seen many falling as the spring wears on in Dublin (admittedly, one such day was so cold and windy that I initially mistook said petals for snow). I started off with an ink version, using crimson artists ink, combined with some blue calligraphy ink as flame red, to create various tones.

yellow gouache petals

I then did the first (yellow) painting pictured above, which is predominantly gouache, with touches of ink. I think the ink petals are easily identifiable, from the slightly darker ring that forms naturally around the edge. That sort of natural effect is what maintains my affection for the medium. If you look closely, you can see the top left two petals here are ink, whereas the lower group are almost all gouache. I was particularly taken with the hue of the marigold gouache I bough as an addition to the basic set, with which I added the deeper yellow details. What doesn’t come across in the photos is that if you turn the paper on its side, you can clearly see the gouache sitting on the paper, a chalky, raised coating, whereas watercolour and ink have a totally different texture, and are thinner when dried. Anyway, my conclusions have been that I would like to experiment more with both gouache and ink together. It seems clear the ink needs to be applied first, as it is thinner and could be prone to cracking if applied over the gouache (which might be worth trying, just to see what has happened. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my experiments, and if you’ve tried using gouache with watercolour or ink, pleas let me know how you’ve gotten on.

Emily

Etsy Links here to Pink Blossom Petals and Yellow Blossom Petals Paintings.

Flower Power Vase Watercolour Painting

Flower Power Vase Watercolor by Emily Boylan

I hope everyone is enjoying Spring! We are getting our first few rays of sun in Dublin, so I have been celebrating with some new brighter watercolour paintings. This painting was part of the series that I painted around the time of my ‘Flowers in Vase’ painting, when I decided to get a little bit more abstract.

I have also tried painting a house using this method. The most fun part is trying to graduate the colours whilst keeping the pattern interesting.

Etsy link

Spring Flowers Painting

I was at the art supply shop this week and picked up some new paper. The paper is a hot-pressed fabriano, which is much smoother than the cold-pressed paper I have been using up until now. I was really pleased with the way the paper takes the ink. It’s a very different experience to working with the rougher paper, as not so much of the ink or watercolour is absorbed, and drying times seemed a little slower.

You can see above that I worked in a number of colours for this piece. The blue of the vase is almost cerulean, the flowers have a combination of magenta, flame red, indian yellow and ultramarine, to create various tones of purples, pinks, golds and reds. The sunny weather these past few days very much inspired me to make a floral work. I hope anyone reading is enjoying the first signs of spring too.

Etsy link