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She Wore Butterflies In Her Hair And Carried Magic Secrets In Her Eyes

Posted on by Empire of the Cat

Hello everyone, today I am sharing this page that was inspired by a couple of challenges this month – see the end of the post for details.  I had an idea to draw this fairy-looking girl for the focal point of the page, and then I used watercolour pencils and water to colour her, starting with her skin.

As I was thinking “fairy” I thought she might be a forest fairy and so I wanted her to be very green, so she would be well camouflaged in the forest.

Probably not the best idea to be wearing shiny gold jewellery but I’m sure she will be OK and be able to keep out of sight.

So what is she looking up at?  Well maybe all these butterflies that I cut out of some gel printed leftovers using a small Sizzix butterfly die.


I added more depth to them with some Pitt pens and then glued them on to the page so they would be flying around her head.

I added some gold splatters and then painted the remaining gold ink around the outside of the page, which is where I wrote my repeating quote.
The quote is from The God of Small Things by Arundhati Joy and reads She wore butterflies in her hair and carried magic secrets in her eyes.  If you haven’t read this book, I can recommend it , it also won the Booker Prize back in 1997. I also included this book as Day 36 of the 100 Day Project, tiny book covers, but with a different quote.

And that’s the finished page.  I was thinking about hands and butterflies when I started it and managed to include both so quite happy about that. This paper is 12 x 12 inches hot pressed watercolour paper and so I save all these pages to be bound together in a different way to how I make my usual journals.  A few more pages and I might have enough to start thinking about binding them together.

Let me know what you think in the comments.  As always, thanks for reading!

Ingredients

Hahnemuhle watercolour paper, Faber Castell polychromos, Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils, Pitt Artist Pensl Liquitex gold acrylic ink, Sizzix butterfly die, gel printed offcuts, black pen, white gel pen, gold gel pen, glue,

Challenges

Art Journal Journey – Butterflies – June Challenge

Try it on Tuesday – Butterflies – challenge starting 25th May for two weeks
Rain’s Thursday Art Date – Hands – June 3rd
Paint Party Friday – Week 12 Year 11 

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Empire of the Cat

Post Author | Artist | Blogger | Kitten Mama | • Loves cats • nature • books • art journaling • Maker of mess, drinker of tea, hoarder of art supplies. Follow me if you like instagram

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33 thoughts on “She Wore Butterflies In Her Hair And Carried Magic Secrets In Her Eyes”

  2. Bleubeard and Elizabeth says:

    I was SURE I had left a comment on this, because the lady was so familiar. Your butterfly lady is gorgeous and I love how the butterflies seem to flit acrooss the page. Thank you so very much for sharing these with us at Art Journal Journey using Mia’s theme, dear Elle.

    • Empire of the Cat says:

      Hmmm did you drop by on Saturday when the site was in maintenance mode? Thanks, glad you like the butterfly fairy.

  4. Meggymay says:

    A gorgeous painting and page, beautiful butterflies and I love how you framed the page with the words. Thank you for linking to Try it on Tuesdays as well as inspiring us all over at AJJ.
    Yvonne xx

  11. Andrea Priebe says:

    You brought her to life with your magical coloring (Painting). She is beautiful and the butterflies are the piece de resistance … but I worry, if you put them in a book, won’t they get flattened? This is a beautiful piece, and I am impressed with your talent. I am sure I will be back to see more …

    Andrea @ From the Sol

  15. Erika N says:

    She certainly is magic Elle. What a lovely drawing and adding those colorful butterflies really makes an amazing page. I will have to go check out that book. Thanks for sharing this with us at Mia’s challenge. It is a wonderful entry. Happy weekend. Hugs-Erika

  16. Mia says:

    Absolutely perfect page, Elle. You fairy is beautiful and I love the way your painted her eyes. I also love the quote and the pretty die cut butterflies. Thank you so much, my friend, for joining my challenge at AJJ. Kisses!

  17. Valerie-Jael says:

    What a fabulous piece you have created, your forest fairy is gorgeous! Love the colours, too. Thanks for joining us at Ajj. Happy PPF, too, hugs, Valerie

  19. Bieubeard and Elizabeth says:

    Wow, this is beautiful, Elle. I love how you covered both challenges perfectly. This turned out great and you draw SO well, too. Thanks for sharing the butterflies and the adorable hands. This was a great entry for Mia’s theme at Art Journal Journey, dear.

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