New art and painting problems

Well lately I have been having a very difficult time with my digital painting.
I had this image that I wanted to capture in my mind of three standing stones in the full moon light, surrounded by creatures such as an owl and hares.

First initial sketch of the standing stones picture

Having scanned in the sketch I transferred it to my iPad to see if I could complete the picture only using that, however I could not get the picture big enough to be able to make big high quality prints from it, so I scrapped that and I started to work on painting it using corel painter on my PC the old fashion way.

Halfway through the painting I became aware that at some point along the way the colours Looked very odd and  I was not happy with the way it looked. I had fears that it was my graphics card was playing up but I just think the image itself became corrupt.

So I decided to paint something else instead and the latest theme for the Enchanted visions project had been announced so I decided to crack on with that painting instead.
I present, Dia los de Muertos.

Find out more about the Enchanted visions project here: http://www.enchantedvisionsart.com/

After completing this very different type of art for me I decided to tackle the standing stones again but it was like hitting a brick wall and I had fallen out of love with the painting, I almost wish I had never started it but I had received such good feedback from people about it I knew I had to  get it finished. So I started it again, completely from scratch and I am so glad I did as it flowed so much easier this time around (my third time of starting the picture, almost represented by the three stones!)

So now the picture is finished!

So I am now running a competition! The person to come up with the best title for this piece will win a print and maybe a few other goodies. Go to my facebook fan page for more information! Fantasy and fauna facebook page

3 Wishes Faery festival 2011- Day 2

Day two.
Sleeping on a slope is not fun. I kept rolling into Leon who had to push me back up the air bed so he wasn't being pushed out the zipped up door. Coupled with the camping neighbours from hell I did not have a very good nights sleep. Oh yes and it rained heavy during the night too.
That morning we went back into Esther and Martins tent for some porridge and a welcome cup of tea and I decided to wear my skull and cross bone dress seeing as I had brought it all the way with me and I was determined to wear it come rain or shine!

Before going down to the main arena Leon and I took a trip back in to human civilisation to get a few more provisions from Sainsbury's as well as picking up Imelda May's first album for £3. Bargain!
The rest of the day was mingling down at the main arena and watching the faerie fashion show which I wanted to be in but completely forgot about! Oh well I was too full of hay fever to really have done any of the beautiful clothing justice!

I don't know what these two were up too, perhaps trying to locate the beer tent!

This lovely goggled lady was Ziazan La Diva with her barrel organ. A touch of steampunk to the event. Her voice is like stepping back in time.

By now the rain had started again and we headed back to camp where Martin did an amazing job of cooking for about 16 of us. I tip my hat to you sir even though the mead/cider/rum was in full flow by then!
After being well fed it was time to get our pirate gear on for the pirate and mermaid ball! Luckily the rain had ceased by this point and it was great to see so many people make a great effort with their costumes. Leon didn't take any photos down in the arena as he was too drunk to operate the camera. :(
Tonight was time for the Dolmen to take centre stage and they were worth the wait. By now I was feeling very ill with sniffles and sneezing. I was beginning to think my hay fever was in fact a cold but I stood my ground and was so glad I did because I loved dancing to The Dolmen. The sound was a bit off compared to other times I have seen them but they are still a great band to stomp your feet to and was one of my festival highlights.
I crawled into bed that night just praying to the Gods I would pass out and not wake until morning.

Stay tuned for day 3.

Photos by  LJS digital photography

New blog!

Greetings reader to my new blog about my artwork, inspirations and general musings. Don't worry LJ users I will still update there too!

Last month I completed two images. One was a picture entitled Steam Dragons Wars.
This painting proved a challenge to paint and is one of my most detailed yet!
I wanted to paint another dragon as I have not done so in such a long time but I also wanted to do another Steampunk inspired piece so I mixed the two together and created a steam-powered mechanical dragon!
This piece started to develop in to a story line all of it's own. Why did such mechanical beasts exist? For what purpose? A War? Against another air borne machine.. a airship (got to love airships)
And so the story unfolded that two warring faction- The Lactions are Aristocratic and wealthy. Their air ships are grand in design and built with a team of engineers with the best scientists available working on new and advanced technology. This includes cannons, machine guns, Tesla coil powered Harpoon which can be interchanged with a net gun.

The Dragonar's Steam-powered dragons are a old technology but are still masters of the sky. "breathing fire and setting ablaze anything in their path. hydraulic jaws enable then to crush armoured machines effortlessly. Powerful wings propel their bulk with ease. Their shadow on the ground causes fear and panic.

The majority of this work was experimental for me, I wanted to practice my composition, lighting, mood and just try new techniques too.
Any way with out further a do I am pleased to present: Steam Dragon Wars

The next image I finished was very different again and to add to my popular line of bird portraits (the feathered variety!) I like to do my wildlife paintings to bring me back down to earth and marvel at the beauty of nature.The British Kingfisher is one on my favourite birds and I always hope to see one when I go down to the river bank. They are like living jewels in such rich iridescent colours that I hope I captured in my painting.

I am not doing any digital art at the moment as I am busy making beautiful things for my stall at the Faerie Festival in Canterbury over the Easter holiday.