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Rachael Mayo

"Song in the Sky" by Rachael Mayo

SciFi/Fantasy Picture 49 out of 67 by Rachael Mayo.      ←Previous - Next→
 
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SciFi and Fantasy Art Song in the Sky by Rachael Mayo
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Tag As FavoriteComment		This is a big trade piece I did for Sandra San Tara. I've been working on it off and on sine February 2006 and I finally finished it in mid-September. Hurrah!

This is one of those pieces where I really wish I'd come up with a story for it, but never could get one to gel. The piece itself is more about color and motion, a phoenix who isn't on fire, and dragons with butterfly wings and sea-critter body patterns.

Symbolically, I suppose I can say that anything with feathery wings represents a kind of freedom of thought and movement, despite the whole phoenix-as-symbol-for-rebirth idea. In this specific case, it's a just a fantastic, intelligent bird who soars with the dragons that inhabit my dreams. They interweave the threnodies of their voices - a marvelous harmony that combines the clarion call of the trumpet and the mellow, liquid tones of the cello and viola, backed by the deep, throbing bass of the clear and echoing sky.

There you go, that's about as far as I got in terms of "what it's all about."

Technical stuff: I accomplished this in my ususal way with a pencil drawing, a watercolor underpainting, and Prismacolor pencil overlays for all that detail. The piece is about 9x30 inches in size and took me between 50 and 60 hours to draw, paint and color over the course of seven months. I'll hand it over to Sandra at Archon this October.

Detail of the Top Dragon
Detail of the Phoenix
Detail of the Bottom Dragon


DateNameComment 
23 Sep 2006:-) Anne Wipf
Sorry : please read "painting on silk" instead of "silk painting".
23 Sep 2006:-) Anne Wipf
Amazing. I love the colors, I love the composition. It's so decorative. It will be a wonderful silk painting. Great work and congrats to the mods. ...You know, you have a good idea there. I wonder if I could get this image to work in batik... I've never tried that technique before, but I do think it would be fun! Thank you!
23 Sep 2006:-) Nathaniel S. Weaver
Beutiful, it was worth the effort!
23 Sep 2006:-) Tabitha General_Wyvern Ruf
Love the colour patters. The actions are very dynamic. The foci look as if they are moving.
23 Sep 2006:-) Kristin Lewis
The colors are beautiful and I love the designs and details.
23 Sep 2006:-) Alexandra Dubeau
The colors on this are gorgeous!! I love the style and pose of all three too. It really does look like a song in the sky!! Well done and congrats on the Mods choice!
24 Sep 200645 A violist
Wow! this picture is absolutely spectacular!






violas rule!!!!!!!!!!!!
24 Sep 2006:-) Lori Crow
Absolutely beautiful!
24 Sep 200645 Anonymous
Love it! ^__^
19 Mar 2008:-) Natalie Beth Myers
i think the other one was more beautiful, but this one is also great!
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'Song in the Sky':
 • Created by: :-) Rachael Mayo
 • Copyright: ©Rachael Mayo. All rights reserved!

 • Keywords: Butterfly, Dance, Dragon, Feather, Fish, Phoenix, Sing, Sky, Song, Wing
 • Categories: Dragons, Drakes, Wyverns, etc, Mythical Creatures & Assorted Monsters
 • Techniques: Coloured Pencils, Watercolour
Modpick •  Mod Pick at: 2006-09-23 10:00:03
 • Submitted: 2006-09-20 00:25:06
 • Views: 3867
 • Resolution: 331x1000

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Related Tutorials:
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  • 'Prismacolor Pencils' by :-)Liz Chesterman
  • 'Colored Pencil Techniques' by :-)Tiffanie L. Gray
  • 'Watercolor Technique' by :-)Dmitry Terner
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