Angel Art

As I mentioned in my first post, yesterday I started and finished an angel painting for my aunt. I would now like to share it with you:

The premise behind this painting, is that it is supposed to represent the angel Dina. Dina is said to be the Angel of Learning and is thought to have taught humans how to speak. She is also said to inspire us to culturally evolve and fill our hearts with love of learning (taken from multiple websites). My aunt just recently went back to school, and she has really loved being a student again, and seems to be quite good at it! So, for Christmas I gave her an IOU for an angel painting.

Here is the painting as it unfolds:

Starting with the full length sketch

  Then a close up of the detail. In the photos I found of Dina, she was portrayed carrying a book. This book is what is supposed to represent that she is the Angel of Learning, I presume.

The painting then began... her face did not, however, turn out exactly as planned...hmm I'll get back to that.

After some debate, I decided since it was my painting, I was going to give her a blue dress. In lots of photos angels are seen in white, but, I thought that was kind of boring... and not necessary for this smart angel. Besides, blue, in some religious beliefs is said to bring peace, and to keep bad spirits away. Also, darker blue is said to be a sign of intelligence. How perfect for our angel of learning.

Now after the entire painting was done, and I had cleaned all of my brushes, I was looking back on the photos I had taken, and took a photo of the whole painting. When I compared her face with the sketch it was completely off. I hated her face. So, after messing around with it for a little longer I finally became happy with it! Here is the NEW and IMPROVED close-up!

Spanning out.. (also fixed her dress ruffles...you can be more objective through a  photo!)

and finally, the entire shot. I feel like the new face gives her much more of a flow about her. Now, hopefully my aunt will like it :).

I have been doing a lot of painting/ art over the last few years, and I thought I might post some others I have done fairly recently in subsequent blogs. Maybe I'll make it a Wednesday thing. Yeah. That will be good.