Monday, May 4, 2015

"Fairy Lockets" The 3rd painting in the Day of the Dead Fairy series

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I've been in my studio painting away for weeks.  Haven't gotten as much painting done on this "painting furlough" as I would have liked to have gotten done, but still did some good work.  A big part of the reason I didn't get as much painting accomplished as planned, is actually because of this 3rd painting in my Day of the Dead Fairy series: "Fairy Lockets". 

 It had been a quite awhile since I've had time to paint, so I was feeling a bit rusty.  I started doing touch-ups on this painting, to warm up the painting muscles.  Before I got too far into the final touches though, I decided it best, and easiest, to just repaint most of the painting. The original had several parts I didn't like, that I wasn't going to be able to easily fix with simple touch ups and painting over the parts I didn't like.  

When doing the repainting on "Fairy Lockets", I added more depth to the scene, simplified and removed a few parts, added more detail to sections, changed the color and shape of her dress a bit, and adapted to a more controlled color pallet.... MUCH happier with how the painting turned out after the rework.

To look at the finished project, you wouldn't think it to be my most time consuming painting to date, but it is by far.  It proved difficult in every way it could.  When I "finished" the first version of this painting, I proclaimed it "finished" mostly because I didn't want to spend any more time on it, seeing the second version though, I'm really glad I decided to repaint it.  I broke my long standing rule of not touching a painting again after I proclaim it "finished" on this painting, which led to me doing touch-ups and changes on two more "finished" paintings.  As a result I didn't get much painting accomplished on newer pieces during my "painting furlough".

I've included a side by side view of the two paintings towards the end of this blog.  
Only the second version will be released as prints.

The Bleeding Heart plant:

No other plant bears perfect heart-shaped flowers like those of the Bleeding Heart. 
Due to this shape, there's several folklore stories about the Bleeding Heart plant, but oddly, most are stories of unrequited love and heartbreak.  

The following story will be easier to follow the symbolism if you have a Bleeding Heart blossom to pull apart, but if you dont, refer to the pictures I've included here:

Long ago there lived a noble prince who tried in vain to win the heart of a very beautiful princess. The prince had brought the princess wonderful gifts from his travels far and wide. Yet she had taken no notice of him. One day the prince returned from a long journey with very special gifts to surely win the love of the princess. First he presented her with two magical pink bunnies (in some variant stories the bunnies are replaced by shoes). 

<Peel off the two outer petals and set them on their sides to display two little pink bunnies/shoes>

The princess only sighed and barely looked at the little bunnies (shoes). Still hopeful, the prince proceeded to his next gift - he presented a pair of beautiful enchanted earrings. 

<Remove the two long white petals and hold them next to your ears>

Again, the princess hardly noticed the prince's gift. Now the poor prince was utterly heartbroken and could try no more to win the heart of the princess. He rose up, pulled a dagger from his sheath and stabbed himself in the heart. 

<Remaining in the flower is a heart shape with the stamen, appearing as a dark green line down the center. Hold the heart up, carefully remove the dagger-like line, and plunge the dagger through the heart>

The princess was overcome by the dedication of the dying prince and his unending love for her. She realized too late that she loved him also. "Alas," she cried out. "I have done wrong, my own heart is broken also. I shall bleed for my prince forever more!" And her heart bleeds to this very day.



In some legends, fairies take up residence inside the flowers, or store their treasures and tokens of love inside the blossoms.  In other legends, the flower part that was described as a dagger in the preceding story, is the magical wand of the fairy, safely stored and hidden away, until needed to perform spells of love.  

The latin name for the Bleeding Heart plant is Dicentra spectabilis, which roughly translates to Dicentra =  “two spurs,” and spectabilis = “worthy of notice,” or “spectacular,” which this plant certainly is.

Fun Fact:  If you press the flowers between the pages of a heavy book, you'll have papery-thin little hearts to adorn letters or valentines.  
Other (Folk) Names for Bleeding Heart plants: Bicuculla Canadensis, Chinamen's Breeches, Corydalis, Corydalis Canadensis, Enfant-Jesus en berceau (French- Infant Jesus in Cradle), Lady in a Bath, Lady's Ear-Drops, Lyre Flower, fleur de Marie (French- Mary’s Flower), coeur de Marie (French- Mary’s Heart), Our Lady in a Boat, Saint-Esprit (French- Holy Spirit), Shone Corydalis, Staggerweed, Turkey Corn, Turkey Pea and the name I like most, influencing the name of this painting:  
Lady's Locket.



As stated in the facebook cover photo, there's a way to get a
FREE print of the painting:  "Fairy Lockets" 

Now through May 13th, 2015,  all orders of $35.00 or more at the Dizzybear Creations webstore, will get a hand signed print of "Fairy Lockets",
matted to fit a 5 x 7 frame
included FREE with their order.
A $9.99 value.




The next painting
will be 
released on
May 25th,
Memorial Day



Thank you in advance for sharing my artwork/posts with friends that you think would like my artwork, on your social media accounts:  Facebook, twitter, blogger, pinterest, tumblr, ello....   




It is INCREDIBLY helpful in getting my artwork out in the world, and is greatly appreciated. 

If you have any questions you'd like to ask that I can answer in a future blog, you can either post them in the comment section below, or send them to my email  dizzybear73@gmail.com  










Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)