Thursday 27 January 2011

Wings in the night


The fairies came to visit us last night. The owl daughter has had many wobbly teeth recently, and she writes great long letters to the tooth fairy. Her fairy delivers back, along with the 50 pence piece, a teeny tiny letter, just as the tooth fairies did for me, many years ago.

'The Owl Fire'
As well as drawing owls herself, the owl daughter asked me to paint a picture for her, specifically of her with an owl on each shoulder. This is what I have come up with :


This first one is in ink and watercolour, and is more 'sketchy' - part of my attempts to free up my working style a little. It's a good start, but I'm not satisfied yet. I love the colours, but feel it needs trying again, from a much higher viewpoint, with more of a sense of space. i can see it clearly in my head, so maybe I'll have time for another try next week.


This second one is a return to my usual style (and the one I think she will choose). I'm still feeling full of joy when I paint, revelling in the luxury of being able to paint 2 or even 3 versions of a picture!

23 comments:

Jopsy said...

beautiful pic's
hope you're enjoying the peace of studio x

Julia Guthrie said...

Oh I love both versions...but particularly the first one. The colour is amazing :)
Owl daughter is very lucky to have such a talented mum :D

Lovely to hear you're enjoying your studio :)

Windsongs and Wordhoards said...

I really like both versions and fantastic colours in both too...
The first has a real sense of drama and movement to the composition which I like and the second has a gentler more intimate feel to it... a lovely profile of your daughter's face looking upwards...
It's lovely to hear you say your painting is full of joy, and I think it shows :)

Freyalyn said...

I love the top your daughter's wearing in the second one - very tempted to knit it up!

The fearless threader said...

The wisdom of Athena is demonstrated by the owls that sit atop her shoulders. These are wonderful, beautiful paintings and I'm sure your duaghter will love them both.

A mermaid in the attic said...

*chuckle* and my hubby thought OUR tooth fairy went a little overboard with tiny letters (our tooth fairy can't spell very well though, so she only writes short notes!)

Caroline said...

These are super -I'm sure your daughter will be delighted. My favourite is the blue one! I love owls and am giving one away on my blog this week! If you have the time to pop in, here's the link http://carolinesstudio.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-owl-prints-and-giveaway.html

Emerald Window said...

The owl is my spirit animal and I think your daughter is SO lucky to have an artistic mother to paint her such exceptional paintings. I am stunned by them. Please paint some owl pictures for sale in your etsy shop.
Cenya

Danielle Barlow said...

Thankyou everyone :)
Freyalyn - I like the tank top too, though I think it looks a little like she has got stuck in the 1970's!
As for wisdom, I am hoping it will come in time. She is a little lacking in it sometimes :)
Christina - our tooth fairies have had a difficult few months, with a lot of teeth falling out. A couple of times the children thought they had forgotten to come, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth ( well, the teeth they had left, anyway). Thankfully the fairies managed to make it on subsequent nights, with long letters explaining how they had been delayed by events in fairyland. Phew!!

Sweetpea said...

What an entirely lovely realm of owl imagination thrives in your abode! If ever you have out of town visitors, can they sleep? Seems they would be immersed in an owl haven the likes of which they've never encountered before :>]
Am very keen on owls myself and live surrounded by woods they call home. Precious beings, every one.

Danielle Barlow said...

Thankyou Cenya :)
Some of the paintings I am working on now will go into the Etsy shop before too long. I have an exhibition in April though, for which I need to keep several pieces. I am currently working on painting my spirit animals, but they are not coming out quite right yet!

Kath said...

What a lucky little girl, these paintings are divine. I;m guessing you keep her little letters stashed away. I have my sons letters to Santa, written 20 years ago. In one, he asks for a pet fox :-D

Jan said...

the second one is more to my taste, but they are both great ...

Joey said...

Oh, I love it!

The Equestrian Vagabond said...

I love it!
Maybe I will dream of owls landing on my shoulders : )
- The Equestrian Vagabond

Jennifer MacNeill said...

Beautiful!!! Love!

Yarrow said...

Oh Danielle, these pictures are so lovely, but the second one is simply magical :D

Karen said...

I love the little fairy letters. Faeries used to leave them here too! ;)
The blue painting is my favourite, but that's because blue is my favourite colour. I like them both. What a lucky daughter. :)

Kid Rock Tickets said...

That fantastic! realy! these website is way better then everything I ever saw.

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God Bless You, ~Ron

wheatgerm said...

I like the owls

Laume said...

I love them both!

gtyyup said...

I love both owl pieces. The colors of the first one draws me to it most though. Just lovely~

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