"I Live With The Fae" (11x14 oil on panel) painting process and thoughts

Hello Steemians,

This painting will always be a reminder for me to stop and feel appreciation. You'll read why in my musing below about....muses.

The "bug" is a creature that has evolved over the years in many of my paintings. It started as a way to incorporate illustration and more imaginative elements into my work, and evolved into something more. It is called a Flrrbl. Or Flrrblz (plural). If you're so inclined, you can view this [almost complete] visual history of the Flrrbl in one loooong image of crops from many paintings: Visual History of Flrrbl.

Early stage:

Next stage:

And the finished painting, "I Live With The Fae" (11x14 oil on panel, 2015):

I would like to remark on my wife's patience and clutch performance for this painting. On short notice, after finally getting a toddler and an infant to bed, she came down to the studio to participate in a 500-photo bubble gum blowing marathon. And so this painting was born. On some rare occasions a painting will flow from inception to completion with an ease and joy which surprises me, and this was one such painting. How and why does this happen? Some kind of magic. There is real magic and power and beauty all around me, and it does me good to be reminded of this. I need to open my eyes and take notice: My wife, who—among other things—directly made this painting possible and who created our children. My daughter, a beacon of joy, whose birth literally coincided with and perhaps precipitated the birth of my Flrrbl creatures. My son, a force of determination, 3 months old at the time of this painting. I live with the fae.

(Excerpt from my FIGURE book, page 16 )

Thanks for reading! -David

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