The Little Christmas dancers

Seasons Greetings

This is a little detail of a commission piece I have just finished in time for Christmas.

The two little girls are ballet dancers, the lady who commissioned it gave me various photographs of her childhood to come up with a fairytale image that captured those memories. She and her sister loved ballet and one of the photographs of them in their little ballet outfits gave me the inspiration. Other elements on the 'shopping list' included a family pet dog, an owl and finally happy times spent in the seaside resort of Blackpool ( famous for its Eiffel-like tower and illuminations)
Combining those elements and a few more into a collage/painting was a little tricky!!.

Initial sketch

I took a while to work out the composition, using an initial sketch to work out where to put the elements I needed to include.

work in progress, created on a substrate of reclaimed timber

The figures were completed last.
I used primary colours, Red, Blue and Yellow. I think primary colours are very reminiscent of childhood with their bright simplicity. Most children's toys are made in bold primary colours so I felt that they would work well, especially as I wanted a night-time deep blue sky filled with sparkling lights.

I gave the girls a coat of Sparkle modpoge.

 Although this isn't a Christmas picture I think it looks rather festive so have linked up to this weeks Inspiration Avenue where their theme is Christmas.

I glazed the finished wooden panel with gloss acrylic medium before I photographed it so sorry about the fuzzy image, the reflections and poor light made it very difficult to get a sharp clear image that was true to life.

little dancing toes! 

finished piece, sorry about picture quality!

               Finally I would like to wish all my followers and those stopping by a very merry Christmas.
May all your wishes come true..........

Linking up to my friends at Paint party friday as well as inspiration Avenue.
also Take a word