A favorite etsy shop: Elfin Dreams

This is a shop, at the moment, that exclusively sells fantasy original painting by Toni Cogdell.  The art in Elfin Dreams is mainly fairies or other nymph like creatures of nature.  Which, of course, is a big reason why this shop is one of my favorites.  Toni's work is very emotional, spiritual and whimsical.

Above is one of my favorite original watercolor and acrylical painting in Elfin Dreams.  This piece is titled Lady of Hawthorn.  As far back as I can remember my family has taken camping trips every summer.  With so many fond memories with my family out in the woods I have grown with a great appreciate for nature and a love of trees.  In this piece, an elven like creature seems to be a part of this tree, perhaps a tree spirit taking on a humanoid form.  I've hugged trees, but to be a part of the tree would be a completely different experience.  What's your interpretation of this lovely art piece?

If you'd like to see more from Elfin Dreams follow this link: www.elfindreams.etsy.com

Belly Dance with Ziva

Next in my Belly Dance series of original paintings I'm going to feature is "Ziva".  Ziva is an instructor at Hipline who is a phenomenally entertaining dancer!  Ziva's style is Middle Eastern as well as Egyptian and when she takes the stage she has a smile that lights up the room, you can't help but smile back.  She entertains with dramatic movement and subtle lifts of her eyebrow...  Well I can go on and on, Ziva is definitely a dancer I admire.

In this original gouache painting I tried to capture Ziva's life and smile that she amazingly expresses on stage.  In this moment Ziva is expressing her love, for the dance and also the music (arabic music is all about love, drama and passion).  She exstends her hand out to the audience, welcoming them in to her performance and her heart.

Here is the actual photo of Ziva taken by Christopher Husary that I used as reference for the painting above.  Ziva exudes a complete joy for her dance that come across not only in person but in photos and art as well.  Here is the link to "Ziva" at Elven Grove: http://www.etsy.com/listing/71543514/ziva-original-painting

If you'd like to know more about Ziva the dancer, check out her website: www.zivadancer.com

A favorite etsy shop: Mizzdraconia

As part of this blog I will feature some of favorite shops along the way.  The first will be Mizzdraconia, a shop that specializes in beautiful fantasy art work in the style of digital paintings and photo manipulations.  If you know my etsy shop, Elven Grove, it's pretty obvious why Mizzdraconia is one of my favorites, sharing a love for fantasy, nature and myth.

This piece is called "Daily Report" and is described as "a daily report being delivered to one of the dryads of the forest".  I love the the woods and all the mythical creatures that are described to live there, including dryads.  I enjoy the curiosity the piece brings to my imagination, I wonder what this butterfly is reporting. the dryad seems to have a somewhat of a serious look in her expression, is it bad news?  Is there a stranger wondering in her woods?  Perhaps another mythical creature encroaching on her land? One can only wonder.

I guess you could say I like my reds and my oranges because here is another, with a similar color scheme as above, I very much enjoy from this shop.  This print is called "Poison" and is described as "a deadly concubine plotting to poison her lord".  I feel this image displays the bad intentions of this woman well with the harsh lights and dark's along with the menacing look in her eye that reflects the color of the poisoned grapes.

If you'd like to check out more by Mizzdraconia check out her etsy shop here: www.mizzdraconia.etsy.com

Beginnings

Welcome to my new Elven Grove blog!

For those new to Elven Grove, I have created this blog as an extension of my etsy shop elvengrove.etsy.com.  Here I will post previous and new work to get more in depth as to what my process is, why I created the piece, what inspired me to create it, or what inspires me in general and anything else that might be fun to tell about my work.  I also plan to post some of my favorite etsy stores and products, because spreading the love is never a bad thing.  And I'll toss in a little about me ever now and then... such as, I'm going to the horse races for the first time today!

Okay, on to the good stuff.  I am a belly dancer, which brings me inspiration in many ways so I'm going to start things off with my belly dance paintings.

All of my original belly dance paintings are of belly dancers I personally know or admire.  These ladies bring me joy, inspiration and keep my passion alive for the art of belly dance.  The image above is of the woman who taught me everything I know about belly dance.  Samar is a beautiful dancer who has been performing Arabic style belly dance since she was a young teen.  She brings such a passion, enthusiasm and pure happiness to the stage it's almost physically impossible to take your eyes off her.  She is also part owner of Hipline Belly Dance Fitness for Women, where she teaches the art of belly dance to women of all different ages, shapes and sizes.

Above is the original photo I used as reference for the painting above, Samar dancing lovely in pink.  Check out the painting in my store: http://www.etsy.com/listing/67161687/samar