Jenny Dolfen

Oak, Broom and Meadowsweet

Yassss. I've tried to draw this piece since 2013, and now I finally can pull it off! Rebecca had some useful pointers on this last Tuesday, and when I did the lineart just now, I actually went from "some green stuff I have no clue about - let's squiggle our way through this" to "let's clump that meadowsweet together here, so it can intersect the negative space next to that oak branch there." 

Story of this class I'm taking. And that's GREAT.

Earth and Sea and Sky

Okay, I owe Rebecca and SmArt School BIG TIME for how this one came together. I had all those animals all over the place in the first version of this until she gave me incredibly helpful pointers for this last Tuesday. I'll be holding on to those pieces of advice for every piece from now on - especially the busy ones. 

Another piece inspired by the story of Taliesin. This is Gwion Bach after catching three drops from the magic cauldron, hit by the Awen - the Welsh concept of (artistic) in...

New pendants!

I survived my class trip (barely, for lack of sleep as my seventh-graders were driving each other - and themselves - up the walls with horror clown scaremongering) and managed to send out about twenty-five sketch copies of my artbook! ^___^

I also had another go at my watercolour pendants - this time with tiny prints, which look surprisingly great at such a small size.  <3 I'm currently wearing a Taliesin. 2016-10-29 18:02:34 +0000 UTC View Post

Tutorial: Painting Plaid

I've loved painting plaid ever since I realised how it worked, back in the mid-nineties (I'm not sure, but I think I was sitting in a very boring lecture at Uni and was staring at the plaid backpack of someone sitting in front of me). Hope it's useful for the artsy people among you! :)

A radiant brow shining bright

Okay, I seriously, seriously can't believe I painted this. God! When I told people I was going to take an art class, a lot tapped their foreheads. I had a feeling that an art class might be an idea, but this - I seriously didn't think I'd produce stuff like this after five weeks. O_O

(And least of all, I expected tips like "buy new brushes!" to hit home like this!)

Taliesin, Watercolour on Fabriano cold-press paper. 19 cm. 

I wanted to film this - but my battery just wasn't up...

Taliesin - new brushes paint better

Pro tip: When your detail work starts to inexplicably get muddy - throw out those frazzled brushes and get new ones. Seriously! I must have painted with these for two years or longer. Not even the best sable brush survives that long. 

Taliesin - next wip

Having a definite Pygmalion moment there. *o* 

*pats him*

Taliesin wip

Stony background celtic knot animals! 

Taliesin - lineart

I had to put in a few hours of "proper" drawing - I've got about ten sketch copies done now, but if I don't get another piece or two done until Sunday, I will again feel cheated by the holidays! But I'm making good progress with the preorders and hope to have all preorder sketches done by the end of the week.

So here's the lineart for Taliesin. Recommended listening: Damh the Bard, "Ceridwen and Taliesin". ...

F I N A L L Y .

My artbook is finally available - but trust Oloris to make their biggest blunder yet. They managed to plant a big, fat letter G in the middle of the cover, and I managed to miss it before I had 120 copies printed. I wanted to just throw them against the wall when I saw it. 

Instead, I went to Moo and had 100 little stickers made with the exact image section, so I can paste them over Maglor's G-string and pretend all was normal. 

The good news: The paper is incredible to ...

Blodeuwedd

This is a piece I've wanted to draw for years, even started it twice and scrapped it all - and now I'm finding that locating the right ref photos and incorporating them makes for such a natural and easy process. 

"Blodeuwedd" (Blood-die-weth) is Welsh for "owl". Literally, it means "flower face". In the Mabinogion, the connection is explained like this:

Lleu Llaw Gyffes, the later king of Gwynedd, was cursed by his mother never to take a human woman. Lleu's uncle, the magician Gwydi...

Frames frames frames <3

Considering that I'm totally not a framer, I think these look gorgeous! 

Both Freya and Isis are looking for new homes on Etsy. :) 

Taliesin

"A radiant brow, shining bright for all to plainly see

Taliesin is your name, the greatest Bard that this land will ever see..." 

I mistakenly ordered a bunch of too-big round cut mats, too big for my little coasters. So now I'll have to paint a bit more round pieces. Such an annoyance. Not. =D

Here's Taliesin, who began life a the boy Gwion who had to stir the kettle for the goddess Ceridwen, in which she was brewing a potion to give her very ugly son Morfran the power of for...

Isis needs more gold.

SmArt School class last night was exhilarating. Rebecca was happy with my progress and with how I'd implemented all she'd given me on my way. I told her I wasn't quite as happy with Isis as I was with Freya, and she encouraged me to add more gold. And - wow. Yes!

Come on, postman, I need those frames and mats!

This image combines the scan of Isis with a photo of the finished piece with gold. Shiny!!

Freya, finished

Oh DANG, I could not be any happier with this.  ^________^ For this one, it all just came together!

Freya - wip

I'm not done yet! 

... okay, I am now. For tonight. More on Freya tomorrow!

Gold leaf

Adding gold leaf. (The gold looks really bold here in the full light - I'm going to try some photography/scan tricks on this tomorrow.)Now, she's waiting for her frame and matting! (Postman waylaying mode) 

"The Sky her Tears of Gladness" - painting timelapse

This was the first attempt that I scrapped - but it's the only one my camera was up to documenting.

It's really annoying - my new camera only lasts for about 60 minutes of filming before its batteries run out. I barely noticed the problem with Loki, as I painted him with half an hour here and half an hour there, and recharged the cam in between, but I'm afraid future videos might become a problem. :/

Isis, second go

This paper worked much better, but it was still a fight with paper and technique - and skin tone. 

I'll be adding tears in gold leaf, and then on to matting and framing this - I actually found one retailer in Germany that sells  round cut-out mats! Now, waiting for the mats to arrive... and starting on Freya in the meantime. 

Isis - second wip

I'm having such an indecent amount of fun with these.

Isis wip

And on we go - first Octoaster! Trying out smooth paper instead of my favourite rough ones, to see how the lifting works on this one.

If anyone had told me that I'd get into lifting at the age of forty-one, I wouldn't have believed them...  

Going to use loads of earth tones here - plus bright turquoise!