Midnight Magic

This painting started as a sketch way back in 2006. The idea stayed pretty much the same, with the addition of with some better perspective knowledge. And of course, she resembles my own cat.



Midnight Magic
medium: Watercolor and acrylic

Prints will most likely be available after the new year.

Athena

Athena
8x10 watercolor Dec 2009

Athena was commissioned at a convention this fall. The description was simple, with just the owl and aegis (her breastplate with medusa). I used olive trees in the background, since it said the olive tree was Athena's gift to the city of Athens.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm having an After Thanksgiving Sale from Nov 27-Dec 2. All orders over $15 are 20% off. Use the coupon code NOVDISC09 when you check out, and click recalculate to apply the discount. This discount is only good on http://www.meredithdillman.com/

Site has been updated with new bookmarks and pocket mirrors.

Discounts on t-shirts, tote bags and other items are available in my zazzle shop Friday only by using the coupon code ZAZZLEFRIDAY
The Fantasy and Fairy Art of Meredith Dillman

Small Book Illustrations and new necklaces

I just added a bunch of original paintings from my book to my Etsy shop. All of them are priced under $40-85 and are matted to fit standard frame sizes: Originals on Etsy



Dark Fairy
Flower Fairy
Water Elemental
Wood Fairy

Medieval Costume Fairy
Nature Costume Fairy
Modern Costume Goth Fairy

Pixie and Bluebird
Fairy Mushroom House



I also have several styles of necklaces available now. I only have a couple of each of the dog tags, so when they're gone they're gone. I most likely won't be able to make them again: View Necklaces

ACEOs, Dancer + WIP

Dancer
5.5x10 inch watercolor and acrylic painting
The original is for sale here: http://www.meredithdillman.com/catalog.php?item=339



People were asking that I post more works in progress. I only saved one one scan from when I was painting it. You can see the difference between that and the ink I posted originally.



And, the ACEOs below are already sold.

Slavic Girl # 2 was commissioned


Autumn Tea Time

Dancer WIP

This drawing was inspired by belly dancer costumes. I decided to try out inking the outlines with colored inks. I don't know how it will work out or if it might be useful for background elements.

3 aceo paintings

These are all up for sale on Etsy:
Slavic Girl - Red Panda - Fae girl (interrupted)

Fleur d'Amour

8x10 watercolor and acrylic painting
Prints available


This was inspired by an older painting from 2003, that I wanted to revisit:

Japanese Obon Festival photos

Or the local fake version of the Japanese Buddhist lantern festival to honor one's ancestors that St. Paul puts on every year. The lanterns are supposed to symbolize the spirits returning to the land of the dead. It doesn't have a lot of meaning how we do it, but the lanterns are still pretty.

recent photos butterflies

Taken at the butterfly house in the local Zoo. Unfortunately I'm not lucky enough to find these in real life.

a simple berry tart or galette

First, I am not a baking expert. Second, I don't generally pay attention to measurements for anything other than ingredients that effect chemistry in baking. I had a package of strawberries and blueberries left over from last week, got a small bag of cherries and black raspberries from family and a container of wild mulberries I picked.



Strawberries - aprox 1/2 pint
Black Raspberries - aprox 1 cup
Bluberries - aprox 1/2 pint
Mulberries - aprox 1 cup
Cherries - around 10

First, I chopped up the strawberries and add them to the bowl with the raspberries and blueberries. Then removed the stems from the mulberries (not really important since you can still eat them) and pitted the cherries.

1/4 cup white flour
1/2 cup sugar

In order from greatest to least amount:
cinnamon
nutmeg
ginger
allspice

Next I combined these ingredients, added them to the fruit mixture and mixed well. I didn't measure the spices. I just added what I liked. I put the berries in the fridge while I make a crust.



I decided to use this recipe (1 1/4 flour, 1 stick butter/margarine, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp sugar, 4 tsp ice water) for my crust, substituting margarine for butter and added about 1 tsp Chinese almond powder.

I don't have a food processor, so I cut the butter in the old fashioned way until crumbly. Then packed the dough together, split into two pieces, flattened, wrapped up and put in the fridge for 30 min.

Rolled out each ball of dough. It doesn't matter if it's round in this case.



I covered two pie pans in aluminum foil since there is a good chance of leaking filling. Lay the crust down and scoop half of the filling into the middle and fold up the sides. Then I folded the foil over the top.

Pre-heat oven to 400-450 (again I was guessing here and turned the temp up halfway through) and bake for 15-25 min. Fold back the aluminum foil halfway through so the top will get brown but not burnt.



Yum!

Alice doodle and new charms

from tegaki


-and, new cel phone charms on etsy that I drew the last couple days. I want to make a button set but I need at least two more images:
Maneki Neko
Koi fish

Saturday I decided I'd try drawing my own manga "screentones" to use digitally. That way I can save time yet still have something handmade that looks how I might ink it anyway. Filled two pages with cross hatches so far.

Victorian Vixen is finished

Victorian Vixen
5x7 painting - ink, watercolor and acrylic

Limited edition prints and the original are both available.

Jade aceo

Jade

size: 2.5x3.5 inches
Original for sale on etsy

I also have cel phone charms available on etsy again, with prettier straps than before :)

Jade ACEO WIP

I wanted to include this in the original gemstone/birthstone set I painted, but I hated the first two attempts.

new buttons

I finally listed the rest of my shiny new 2.25 inch buttons on Etsy (there are a couple more but my photos were dark and I've misplaced my camera cable).



Click here to see them all!

Victorian Fox WIP 2

The image on the right was step 3. I flipped my scan and was able to trace the other side of the border. I tightened up a lot of the lines in the skirt and added the lace design to the parasol before inking and then sketched in a background. Step 4 is a digital thumbnail used to choose colors I will paint with (I don't always do this).

Victorian Fox WIP

On the right is my thumbnail sketch which was only a couple inches high. I scanned it, adjusted the contrast and then printed it out the size the want to paint. I use that as reference when I draw the final drawing that will be painted. On the left is the current stage I am at. I will print this out mirrored and use it to draw the other side of the border so it ends up symmetrical.

Red Panda

• Original for sale on Etsy

One small problem with ending up known as a "fairy artist" is that people keep asking me to paint more fairies, when sometimes all I really want to do is draw cute pandas. Here's the first one. There may be more.

Photo time

Local fans dress up for Free Comic Book Day:

Interesting leaves:

toned Fae drawing 2

Pen and ink on canson paper

The Original is for sale on Etsy

Two ink drawings

Geisha drawing



Original for sale on etsy

Moon Kitsune drawing



Original for sale on etsy

Theft warning

These are from an an ebay shop in China. They are not licensed and were probably taken from a book the painting was in. Since it's older, it is no longer in my galleries. I took care of having those listings deleted, but please let me know if you see them anywhere else in the future.

sketches April 16

New art & updates

These paintings have been finished for a while, and now I'm finally getting to posting them. I'm really proud of the dragon. The acrylic over watercolor really worked well for it. I don't think I would have been able to do the same with watercolor. Yay for progress!

Wishing on a Star
Limited Edition prints available here


Darkwings II
prints available here


Sky Dancer
prints available here


New prints added to site:
Wishing on a Star
Darkwings II
Sky Dancer
Undine
Forest Unicorn
Fairy Gossip
Other products:
Longcat and Fox magnet sets

3-26 doodles b&w and rain