The Lenten Rose Fairy: everybody’s favourite designated driver

Poor poor fairy of the Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis). She gets to put on her glad rags right through lent, but, as botanical representative of the season of abstinence, she never gets to have any fun, and by the time lent is done, she’s had her time for another year. Her flowers are really quite something special, but no wonder they hang their heads. So, next time you’re failing in a resolution to give up chocolate / alcohol / cake / Facebook / shaving / being a dick or whatever else your resolution is, just remember that you can go…

Snowdrop Fairies refined (the painting, not the actual fairies!)

I have refined the snowdrop fairy picture, in terms of execution and composition. The fairies themselves are still the twats they were in the original drawing. Had to get this one finished while the flowers were still out, or wait another 11 months for them to flower again. Drawing flowers from photographs is never very effective because you can’t get a feel for their structure, and obviously the fairies do not show up in photographs at all. There have been famous photographs of fairies, but as the Cottingley girls admitted sixty years later, those photographs – belief in which so…

More Spellings…

A lot of the new work has moved over to my ‘swimming art’ site, http://www.waterdrawn.com, and it’s hard to keep two websites adequately fed, but here are some new Spellings that I’ve not shown before. I’ve been updating the offerings on my Etsy shop where you can now order your name spelt in mermaids, unicorns, and pigs (though preferably not all at once…) as well as all the usual cats, dogs, witches etc… See the full range in the Spelling Animals section of my Etsy shop

“Sally”

This is Sally, another painting in watercolour, gouache and gold leaf, a celebration of our lovely clear lake at Vobster Quay, where I swim once a week. The source material for this painting was an underwater photograph I took on our first swim of 2017. It was 2nd January. When the lake gets a bit warmer I hope to have a few more subjects not in wetsuits, but for the moment there are a hardcore few of us, though even we have mostly resorted to wearing gloves in these temperatures. The highlights of the water at the top are created…

‘Sara’, with palladium leaf

Second underwater swimmer picture in real paint. I though I wouold try keeping the metallic element but removing the gold colour, so this is palladium leaf. Palladium is very similar to Platinum, but without the latter’s pretensions, and so only costs about the same as gold leaf. This is Sara, also swimming at Vobster Quay.

‘Cecily’, against Vobster Green

I have been painting… with real paint! This is the first swimmer painting that hasn’t been digital, but it’s been something I’ve been pondering for a while, whether to plunge into watercolour with the swimmers. So this isn’t a commission, just an experiment of my own. Actually it’s mostly gouache (watercolour with ‘body’, which makes it more opaque, in theory, though the actual pigments I am using here are mostly very translucent), and embellished with gold leaf. The idea of using gold leaf where the water sparkled was irresistible, but I think it did a little over-embellishing at the start…

New websites, old pictures

Apologies for the silence, amongst other things I’ve spent the last 3 days getting my original artwork up in my other Etsy shop, the cunningly named NancyFarmerTwo. Not quite there yet but I just thought I’d let you know. I have quite a lot of stuff, some of it’s not seen the light of day for quite a while…. some random things, some bargains, some huge and expensive pieces, lots of etchings, they’re all getting an airing. More to come… It’s all here: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/NancyFarmerTwo After that, it’s about time I had a new website or tow. Proper ones. More to…

Exhibition now on!

I have a solo art exhibition at Ilminster Arts Centre this month. I have gathered together almost all of the new artwork that I have available since the last solo exhibition I had there about 3 years ago, including several new paintings I have been working on especially for this exhibition along the theme of ‘A Westcountry Bestiary’. I’ve also displayed quite a few of my Swimming Drawings. The gallery is really quite spacious, and at one end is a lovely friendly cafe, where they do light lunches and lovely cake. What more reason could you wish for to drop…

A Spelling Spree!

I’ve been on a total spelling spree lately. This week I have spelt names in mermaids, rats, fairies, unicorns and pigs… yes, I can now reveal that even pigs can be spelt with, though I think I was probably most pleased with the discovery that spelling in unicorns is possible. I can’t show you those last four yet as they have yet to go to their owners, but here are some from past weeks, including a spelling in witches which I was rather pleased with. I also have a fine pair of Spelling Bull Mastiffs to show you presently, but…

Cider Apple Fairies

I have finished the Cider Apple Fairies with two days to go, in time to get them into the Somerset Arts Weeks brochure. So that’s me signed up for Arts Weeks (17 September to 2 October 2016), and one more Alternative Flower Fairies picture ticked off. And a decision: next year there shall be a Flower Fairies calendar! I now have 10 Alternative Flower Fairies paintings, just two more needed. I shall also be doing another swimming calendar as this year’s was delightfully popular. So, pictures of the Cider Apple Fairies – after a long line of Poison Flower Fairies…