The Inspiration Behind My Painting Entitled “Chamomile”

"Chamomile," by Dayna Winters.

“Chamomile” was inspired by a photo I took while out walking with my husband. While he was busy with his metal detector searching for potential treasures, I spotted a small batch of tiny chamomile flowers along the outer edge of the woods. I quickly snapped a photo and thought nothing more of it until I was looking for something interesting to paint. Eager to play with my new watercolor paints, I sketched out the photograph the best I could. As I drew the flowers I decided to add a fairy in flight. Later, as the artwork progressed, I decided to add a male fairy sitting crossed-legged and hiding among the flowers. As I tried to determine what the female fairy should wear I realized that the petals of the chamomile flower could make an interesting looking skirt. The female fairy's shirt is the same color as the center of the flower. Since the girl fairy had elements of the flower in her design, I decided to give the boy fairy some nature related features as well – he wears an acorn hat and oak leaves.

The flowers that inspired "Chamomile."

I find looking at photographs helps me learn more about light and shadow, shading, and color, especially color in degrees.  When I have a photo to view, I attempt to create an image that is true to life with as much detail as possible.  When I used the watercolor I preferred a thicker pigment, so I used very little water. I did some mild stippling in the center of each flower as well in order to give the flower's center a different, more realistic, textured appearance.