2017 Aqua: Water Fairy {by Dounia Large}

2017 Topic 9: Aqua: Water Fairy

Raquel from Spain yesterday, and today we have Dounia from France sharing her story about how she created her under-water-fairy, peeking up through the depths! Make sure to read every word! She describes her journey so well! A* for perseverance Dounia!

Hello everyone, Dounia from France back with you tonight. Have you ever had a clear idea of what you want your project to look like, and even a pretty good idea of how to get there, but the @?*%! thing just won't cooperate?? That's what happened to me when making this pendant inspired by the color aqua and all things blue!

I don't really know if this applies to other languages/cultures but in French, blue is the color of dreams. Therefore, while "Aqua" obviously evokes water and the sea, to me, this pale blue(s) also speaks of ethereal things, slightly vague and mysterious. I wanted to capture this feeling in my piece as a strange being partially hidden behind veils of blue.

I immediately knew I wanted to use the winged lady from Mini 09, she's one of my favorite characters (maybe even my favorite) from all the PaperArtsy collections. I must not be the only one to love her as she exists in two other sizes (Medium and Large)!

 Mini 09

The Fresco Acrylic Paint line has many gorgeous blues, I chose Antarctic, Blue Oyster and Smurf for both background and accents, with a bit of Pearl glaze as fairy dust!

 

This is, I think, my fourth try, and not the one in the final project. The lady is stamped on tissue paper, painted on the back, then glued of a painted chipboard. My tissue paper is very thin so there was a few accidents... Of the course the more I failed, the more frustrated I became, which did not help the following attempts! I had to take an ice-cream break...

On this base, the idea was to build layer upon layer to create the impression of depth. I wanted her to be still visible but look slightly obscured, like she was below water. For that I alternated tinted but still transparent layers with opaque ones stamped only one the sides with Mini 41.

Mini 41

On the first try, I was too impatient/ambitious and did not managed to get the thickness and tint of my layers well enough. I ended up with something either not aqua at all or with my fairy so deep underwater she was invisible! I used one such attempt for the back of the pendant. The French saying means "Be cautious of sleeping waters": the surface might seem calm but you don't know what's happening beneath it and the water can wake up at any time. It is used to describe both situations and people. Considering this water hides a fairy, I thought it very fitting!

I finished with a crackle effect because... well I love crackles! Also when highlighted with a pale color (here white and pearl) they make me think of tiny ripples diffracting light.

In the end I am reasonably happy with the result, even if I would have liked even more depth. I might end up adding a few more coats of varnish just to try and bring the finished pendant closer to the idea I had in my mind! Generally I am more likely to go with the flow (and the unexpected detours) of a project and it goes better. There 's probably a lesson here! Anyway I made all the mistakes for you so don't hesitate to try the building of transparent layers, it brings such impact to a piece, it is very rewarding!

Thanks for joining me. Dounia x

Blog: Doudoulina

'reasonably happy' ??? OMG! You are only 'reasonably happy' !! LOL This is fantastic!! I know it took you several (frustrating) attempts to get where you had in mind, but it looks fabulous! The pearl edging is so pretty! And now you have explained the depth of layering, it really it such a great project, I think you should be ecstatic! ~ Leandra

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