Midsummer Magic 2012

My computer crashed this morning and it seems new equipment or parts are needed.  Bad fairies, one might say.  But the good fairies will still be at our annual Midsummer  Magic art show at Sovereign House, and preparations are still going forward...

even if I have to resort to paper and scissors.

I am also teaching art classes at Sovereign House this summer, painting scenes of the house and garden.

This beautiful Tiger Swallowtail was in the garden while we were painting last week.  Despite a very damaged wing (look closely, top left of butterfly) it was able to flutter on from flower to flower.

Summertime

"Too busy to blog", terrible words! Between art classes to teach, new designs and art to prepare and an art show to hang, I had to let some things slide. The dog walks were shorter, good books were unopened and the garden went unweeded (which allowed the wild daisies and loosestrife to wander in).My annual "Midsummer Magic" art show at Sovereign House was visited by a host of fairies with every style of wings,

and even swordsThis quiet spot by the lake has a magic all its own, a perfect place for fairies and reveries.

The show is over now and so is the rush. I have an unaccustomed breathing space, time to think and to paint some random fancies before starting on new work. The fairy bridesmaids at the top of this post are about to make their debut in the new issue of our "Illustrated Fairy Gazette", which is coming soon.

"Gon Out, Backson, Bisy"

In other words, we're going on holiday. After busy weeks of painting, art show, and classes (the above picture is of Sovereign House, where I have been teaching painting en plein air) we are taking off to visit pink sands and coral caves. A house sitter is coming to mind our four-footed ones. The garden will mostly take care of itself.
The pear tree is again heavy with sweet-scented fruit. Twelve years ago it was a spindly little orphan from a local garden nursery, and now it is a towering tree that produces an embarrassment of riches every year. Sometimes a branch breaks under the weight, like the one sketched here.

They will be closer to ripe when we come back, in good time for pear tart and pear jam making. Meanwhile we are going down the shouting sea (taking my palette and brushes with me), or as Christopher Robin put it,

Gon Out
Backson
Bisy
Backson

After the ball is over... and a new Give Away

The show as Sovereign House is over and the visiting fairies have flown away. The "How Many Fairies" contest drew many entries and last week a winner was declared and the prize presented. The contest is this simple: How many fairies can you count in the picture above? (Hint: they all have wings)


The prize is a fairy-tale princess on a gilt ladder, as seen here, from the Princess and the Pea collection that I had the pleasure of designing.

Count carefully and post your entry in the comments section, and next Sunday, August 1, the winner will be announced.

To quote from A Midsummer Nights Dream, "Fairies away!"

(or my favourite, "Give me your hands, if we be friends...")

Fairy Finds

Along with the fairy paintings currently on display at Sovereign House are other fairy finds. There are the fairy purses of course, and now another one of Avril's crochet inventions, a little blue-finned mermaid with cascading golden hair. Like the fairy purses she is made of the finest, silkiest cotton thread, very beguiling to the touch. She fits charmingly into the palm of one's hand.

Some weeks ago I found a pair of child-sized chairs in my favourite charity shop and brought them home to sand down and repaint with a fairy motif. The weeks have slipped by with so many things to have ready in time for the show, but this weekend I finally finished the chairs and brought them into the gallery.

Here is the signature motif under the seat,

and here are the chairs, with daisy seats and winged back rests.

One of our young visitors pulled up a chair to sit and paint with me for a while. Working on scraps of watercolour paper we came up with these (fairy with a flower vine, fairy flying over a golden ship) and other miniatures, making up stories to go with each one.

On a table in the middle of the room are books, cards and ornaments. In recent years I did some designs for a giftware company and have a small stock of the resulting product. The Frost Fairy collection included these little cherubs,
and another group of ornaments was designed around my "Princess and the Pea" illustration,
with the Princess on her ladder, sets of Princess slippers,
and a trinket box of the Princess in her tall bed with (what else) a small golden pea inside, under all those mattresses.
The show continues until later this week, concluding another magical interlude at Sovereign House.

Midsummer Magic - Fairies at Sovereign House

The paintings are framed, labelled and hung on the welcoming gallery walls of Sovereign House. Just a few steps in from the door is a poster of a busy fairy scene, above the little half moon table with entry slips for the "How many fairies" contest.

Usually I hang book illustrations in narrative sequence, from the cover art and title page vignette through to the last page and end papers. This show is a little different, featuring selected art from all of the Illustrated Fairy Gazettes, including fairy advertisements, events, interviews and articles of interest on fairy life. I grouped the paintings to make a new narrative, beginning with the Fairy Wedding. Here is some of how it looked.












"Little Flower Creations" has an advertisement in each of the Fairy Gazettes and now we have examples of the fairy purses. Typical of Avril's fibre work, they are beautifully finished inside and out. No two are alike. They are crocheted with the finest silky cotton thread, embellished with tiny floral inventions and hung with a netting of beads.




Some of them have already gone home with young fairies who came to visit on the weekend.

Summer Solstice and a Fairy Festival

"International Fairy Day is June 24. What is a fairy to wear?"

This weekend at the Guelph Fairy Festival a range of fairy-tale attire was to be seen,

on water sprites and wood nymphs,

on fairy godmothers and dragon tamers,

even knights of old and their attendants.

It was a perfect day for gathering in a green glade

and we managed to blend in and slip through the gates for a day of fun and inspiration.

Back on the home front I am preparing for the upcoming art show, putting new art into frames and making lists and labels. The latest edition of Faerie Magazine has arrived, another beautiful production from editor Kim Cross.

This issue includes a new article by Avril about the seeking and finding of fairy paths, in particular the legendary One Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence River (with photos by Ian Coristine).

"Travelling through the region in 1848, years before development arrived, England's Rev. James Dixon described the islands as "...the most perfect fairy scene in the world." Situated in Ontario on a stretch of the St. Lawrence River, this piece of fairy land is only a few hours drive away and we are planning a trip there later this summer.

Further into Faerie Magazine is my latest "Posy's Fairy Wardrobe" spread, more fashions for summer days.

For now I am surrounded by frames and pictures, with my spiffy new framer's point-driver to facilitate the process. In 10 days it will all be hung and ready. "Children and fairies welcome, wings may be worn."