A Trio of Faeries

The end of June is here !!!!!!   See?   Time is flying by.    It has been a bit toasty here the last few days almost like Death Valley.  Well almost, I think in the 1920's it was 135 ish there.  Now don't hold me on the numbers but they are sort of close to right.  Sort of.   I think here it was 107 degrees last week but suppose to be in the 80's next week.  We have dryer heat but trust me it is still hot.  I love the saying that it is dry heat and not as bad.  BUT dry heat does feel good on your bones and the aches are not as bad.     Sounds like I am a weather lady doesn't it?  Well trust me I am not. Just a lady enjoying her retirement and doing whatever comes to mind. 

 

 They are right though, the humidity just kills you and makes a lady glisten.   Gentlemen sweat but a lady just glistens.  Trust me this lady does not like to glisten.  Well that is a term they used in Victorian days.   Can you imagine wearing all those petty coats and being tied up it the back tighter than Dick's hat band with the corsets?   Nope not in today's world.   Jeans and t-shirts are the norm for a lot of people these days.   Oh and whatever they call them now days,  flip flops.  Fancy and plain they are easy shoes to take off in a second.    I mean if you take you shoes off in the car and then when you get there, what two seconds to put your shoes back on?  Hey that might be a record of shoe putting back on contest. 

 

Lately as we have been enjoying the Texas Ranges Baseball games from the comfort of our living room I have still been drawing and playing with my faeries.   These sweet little creature come to me, I swear as I am sitting there saying Go RANGERS !!!!  I then get up and go get my art pad, my mechanical pencil and pastel pencils and just start sketching.   It is funny how the same features that this artist draws all come out so different.  I kind of do the sketching backwards or some of it.  I start with the faces and then hair and draw and color them in.  Then I think what are they going to do?  I make a few marks and it just goes where they want me to take them.   Usually the next day I get my Twinkling h2o's out, fancy watercolors with bling in them, and play with the backgrounds.  Then Prisma color pencils and some acrylic paints and off we go.  

 

Here are three of my newest ones.   I have 6 more sketched and waiting to be finished.  Just some goings on here so will be back to them soon.  

 

This first one I have titled  "Keep the Garden Music Ringing "I used some of an antique song book I found at an antique store.  It was really aged and coming apart but the pages were the perfect color and no one wanted it so we rescued it.    I had her face really turned up and thought she is going to drown if it ever rains so didn't want to do that to here.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next little faerie is entitled "Faerie with the  Blue Butterflies"  She first started out looking at me and then I erased the eyes and started over.  Thank goodness for kneaded erasers. 

 

 

 

 

The last little Faerie is entitled "Listening to the Garden Secrets".   I can just hear this little birdie fly telling about all the garden news.   When I see humming birds around here I wonder how they know each year to come back to whose yard and for what flower. 

 

 

 

 

These new cards are on my web site and thinking about selling prints of them.  What do you think?   I am excited a store here in Lubbock has started carrying my cards.  So more people can enjoy the playfulness of faeries.  

 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today. 

 

XOXOXO

Annette

It's a Good Thing

Now I know I might sound like a celebrity we all love and watch her on TV but " It's a Good Thing" I am talking about slight changes here and there. . Nothing serious like a new hair do or going wild and celebrating big time for anything.   Just on my Art Images by Annette website,  (button at right of my blog) I am offering Faerie cards for sale. 

I had a sweet lady order some of the cards and thought Goodness ANNETTE you better get on the ball.  So on the  ball I am.



The graceful "Bird Protector Faerie " is shown here and she is on my sidebar of the blog.  

It is funny how I am creating these little Faeries right now.  I am using the old spelling of Faeries, my sweet cousin Juanita started using it and I love it.

There you go and thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today.

                                                     XOOXOX
                                                       Annette

Ady's Dolls

Another week gone by and I have been playing and doing.  Sometimes if feels like I just goof off time and then sometimes I play in the art room and just have a party in there all by myself.  Sweet Hubby comes in and checks on me from time to time and even brings me little treats like a little  Hershey candy or some Vitamin C.  Now how can you get excited over Vitamin C you might ask?   Well, are you ready?   The little candies that are orange flavored and look like orange slices?  Well that is our remedy for getting Vitamin C.   Get it, oranges? Vitamin C?   Now you know our sense of humor sometimes.  Gotta have our Vitamin C you know.    Course real oranges are good also but sometimes playing in your art room there is no time to stop and wash your hands and eat a good juicy orange. 

June 1 st I started taking an online class from Ady Almanz and it had 6 lessons in it.  So I thought ok might take a few days for this one.   Well here it is the 9th and I am finished with all  six of them.  They were wonderful and refreshing me about pastels.  Yes they are messy but I don't mind washing my hands at all.  I get to sing Happy Birthday a lot.  We are suppose to sing in our heads or out loud   Happy Birthday twice for the right amount of time to wash hands.  So I just have a party a lot.  Sorry, ok back at the ranch here.

Here is a link to the post of Ady Almanza's class  she is fixin to give one on color also. Can't wait and I need a shot in the arm for my pastels.  I have been AWOL long enough from them. 

Drum roll please----- here are my lessons and they were so much fun. 

 

The takes on Ady's lessons.  She has such a wonderful way of teaching. 

 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today.

 

XOXOXO

Annette

A No Name Fairy- Now named the Faerie of Patience : )

There was a movie years ago about a man with no name and they even had a song with that in there--A Man with No Name.   It was a western if you might have thought that you are correct.   Can't imagine no name which brings me to wonder if the cave men had names?  I know I think about different things sometimes.   Wandering around with no name at all.    You also wonder about when people use to sign their name with X's.  I mean unless they add some flourish or something like little hearts or stars on the ends of the X wouldn't they all look alike basically?     I know I am really wandering here. 

  Now my ladies here in blog world I wonder how many of you went thru a stage and made hearts to dot I's?  Or circles and stars.    I certainly did and made them as fancy dancy as I could.  You know the poor teachers probably rolled their eyes when they got our papers? 

Ok back at the ranch as one or my teachers use to say when he wandered off the subject of Algebra.  

I have been on a Fairy kick recently, don't know why and certainly not questioning it.   I had first sketched her and started taking pics of my process but with all the changes happening that process got lost in the scrambles in my art room.    At first I had a soft watercolorish   ( pardon the word-it is an Annette word ) background and it was developing pretty I thought.   I worked on the fairy and changed her clothes many times and then the background- gads a soft airy background?  That certainly won't do.  Then the dark greens and blues popped in there and then the text and music .   The words to the music one line was No other place so sweet.   Now I liked that and thought where would this fairy like to be?   I thought in a beautiful garden with flowers, birdies to perch on her shoulder and sweet butterflies AKA  fly butters floating and dancing around.   And of course pretty vines with flowers on them so the butterflies could have some nectar.    The butterflies seem to just flit around her and share their beauty don't they? 

That quandary settled of where she was but her hair?   My goodness a hip Fairy needed a special hairdo and it kept developing and finally got to almost looking punk.  I kid you not like she had used a lot of gel on it.   To me she was elegant as her clothing appeared,  so the hair  turned reddish and I thought flowers in the hair would fit the ticket.  So flowers she got.    

She seems at peace now pausing by the tree and taking in the magic of the garden so we will leave her at that for now.  Funny when I work on these they take their own personality and little stories pop into my head about them.  

 

Her she is in her peaceful garden but still with no name.  Perhaps a name will come to you as you view her. 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today.  

 

XOOXOX

Annette

 

  

Little Butterfly

Have you ever thought about the flight of the Butterfly?  I mean they flit and flutter around our yards looking so beautiful with their wings opened so pretty.  When on a rock or landed they soak in the heat and so many beautiful patterns they have for us to view.  

I do know that they go from North America down to Mexico and beyond to spend the winter.   Man those little wings are tough aren't they? I really think they catch a wind current to help them along.  But pretty smart I do believe .   One time when we lived in Seminole I went out to the backyard and some Trumpet Vine we had, a story about that vine later, and it was covered and I mean covered in Monarch Butterflies.  It was so pretty with them covering the vine.   I guess it was a feeding stop for them going South for the Winter.   I just stood there and took in all the beauty of that many in one spot.  Our yard though, have to say myself, was beautiful like a non West Texas yard, a fairy land so to speak.  Of course it took several years and hard work to get it that way and we had the care of it down to a science.  But back to butterflies.

On creating my fairies, they have possessed me I think, this next one just started out like they do and then they just evolve.  Now I am not an orchid or purple person.  Nothing personal about it but just not one of my colors and I like creating with it when it calls to be done.   I created her first and then sometimes just close my eyes and grab a color so play with.  A little thing I do so I don't get to stuck on one color. 

My cousin Juanita had sent me a present and was wrapped in the prettiest butterfly paper and she sent more of it to me.  I was trying to figure out where this fairy was going and I looked down in my basket of larger papers and there it was.  The butterfly paper.   Now I know in movies you have seen when someone sees the thing and choirs sing and a spotlight come onto the subject.  Well it seemed to me that is what happened with the butterfly paper.   I know I am getting carried away here but hey I am dealing with fairies.   You know how they are.   So these butterflies flew across the big pond to Texas so to speak. 

My friend Bev from down under sent me some napkins a couple of years ago and there was one that had birdies on it.  So the paper and napkins got to play with my fairy.

 

Here she is, of course I had to do some other do dads on the paper and background but it is basically the butterfly paper and the birdie is part of a napkin with  some white ink on it. 

 

There you go and thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today.  

 

XOOXOX

Annette