FAQ

A book of my artwork is currently being put together for publishing by Blue Angel Publishing Australia. It’s going to have over 100 of my artworks included in a stunning design, plus some poems and affirmations I’ve written as well. You can find out a bit more about it here- http://selinafenech.com/fairylore-art-and-words-by-selina-fenech/

At the moment, there is no official release date yet but the publisher has tentatively suggested an early 2012 release.

You can also purchase collectable books on different themes with my artwork here- http://selinafenech.com/selinas-books/fairy-art-books/

Unfortunately the answer to this is pretty much always “Sorry, no”.

Why? Currently, I am director of my own company, managing two other employees, licensing half a dozen artists for manufacturing and selling art merchandise globally. I am also an artist myself, and painting my own visions and ideas takes priority for expanding my illustration portfolio which brings in the income that I live off. I have little enough time even to fit my own painting in. I’ve also now taken on trying to be an author as well. From the end of 2011 onwards I’ll also be a mother. The simple fact is, to charge an hourly rate for my illustration services that would make it worth it for me to put aside all of my other business and personal obligations would simply put the pricing way out of reach for an individual- and even then, I’d barely have the time.

I use a wide range of mediums, and often mix a few together. My tastes have changed over the years, and with them my preferred mediums.

For traditional paintings I work primarily in watercolour or acrylic paint, with a number of other mediums mixed in as well for whatever effect I require, including gouache, pencil, pastel, and ink. My black and white traditional artworks are done completely in graphite pencil. I generally work on 100% cotton smooth watercolour paper by Arches no matter what traditional medium I am using.

For my digital artworks, I use a pressure sensitive Wacom tablet and pen in Adobe Photoshop CS5 with custom “brushes”.

It’s a little like asking what the length of a piece of string is, as I will change the size of an artwork depending on the amount of detail I intend to include in it. Larger artworks (up to A2 size, about 17×22 inches) when I want to add a lot of detail, or A4 or standard letter size paper for simpler artworks is about the smallest I work, although I have done a few ACEO’s (Art Trading Cards which are 2.5×3.5 inches in size).

The larger the actual artwork, the longer it takes to paint. Actually formulating my ideas and planning out the composition and elements of the image can often take the longest. It’s less “full time” than actual painting, but I could be thinking about, sketching or researching an idea for an artwork for months before I start painting it.

Once I actually begin painting, a small artwork could be finished in a days sitting of full time painting, so about 10 or so hours. Larger paintings are generally more than 3 days of painting, as are digital artworks which also can fit in a lot more detail like large traditional works.

I am greatly influenced by a lot of artists, both current and past. Artists and art movements such as Alphonse Mucha and the Art Nouveau era, Waterhouse and Bouguereau and the Preraphaelite era, as well as comic and anime art, fairytale and children’s book art have all affected and influenced my style at some time. Arthur Rackham and Ida Rentoul Outhwaite are some of my favourite turn of the century fairytale artists, and I love modern masters like Brian Froud. There are some artists who aren’t strictly fantasy that I love, like Audrey Kawasaki. Basically I love anything beautiful.

I always drew a lot growing up, probably more than most kids. My mum encouraged it and “craft time” seemed to be her favourite way to keep me and my brother busy and out of trouble. In high school whenever I could choose to take art classes, I did. At the age of about 16, I decided I wanted to be a comic book artist when I grew up! I began more seriously studying artworks and practicing a lot and self teaching at that stage. My love for comics faded a little after high school and I decided a job in graphic design would be stable, and still creative, so took a course at university in Visual Communication. This course was mostly advertising based, working a lot with computers, designing logos, websites, packaging and so on. It taught me a lot about design, and there were a couple of excellent drawing classes included as well. My training in graphic design has been indispensible in my career as an artist, as I’m able to design my own logos, packaging, website and so on. Otherwise I’ve learned loads from art books and online tutorials.

Everyone asks this, and it’s one of the hardest questions to answer! As Stephen King says about writing- “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

This applies to visual art as well. Often I just start working and see what comes out. Often the very act of working helps you come up with cool ideas.

Like many artists, I find inspiration comes and goes. People often ask where my ideas come from… where do anyone’s ideas come from? The great melting pot of the imagination. They simply are ideas in my imagination that I develop along with my years of experience and research and love for enchanted things, to create the artworks as I feel they should be. I find that things that can spark these ideas are generally beautiful natural objects, shapes in a tree, and so on, as well as stories and fairytales and mythology. I also have fun asking myself “What if…?” questions, which are great to find ideas with. For example, “What if… mermaids worshipped the moon?”, or “What if dragons were really tiny?”. Visual ideas can come out of these question and answer games.

Over the years, and having to find time to paint in between “business work”, which I find makes my inspiration run away anyway, I still get artists block. I often just wait it out now, I know inspiration will come back. But in truth, the best cure for artists block is to just paint. Nothing inspires me more than just finishing a painting, I want to jump right into the next one!

I’m actually not that fussy, and will generally use what I can get at the time. Art supply stores in Australia a scarce, and generally only stock one or two brands anyway so there’s not a lot of choice.

The only and MOST IMPORTANT thing when buying art supplies of any kind, but particularly paints and brushes, is to always buy “Artists grade”, never “student grade”. Many brands will have the option for both, and it may seem cheaper and better to grab the student grade because yep, artist grade can be significantly more expensive. But it’s worth it, the quality difference can be shocking. Artist grade products are always better in every way, you will see an improvement in your art if you switch from student to artist grade! It’s all about using the quality tools for the job.

Some of my favourite tools-

Brushes- I like to have a few “chinese mop” brushes around, they are great for watercolour washes and special effect techniques. Sable is a luxury, but synthetic brushes are really good these days too.

Paper- Always, always Arches Smooth/Hotpress 100% cotton watercolour paper, in 300gsm or more.

Acrylics- When possible I get “liquid” style acrylics rather than “texture” style. Texture has more filler in for creating texture in your painting. Great if that’s what you’re going for, but I use my acrylics more like watercolour anyway, and find the “liquid” style acrylics have a higher pigment to filler ratio.

Pure Pigments- I have a box of Kremer Pure Pigments which are amazing (from http://kremer-pigmente.de/en). You can mix these pigments with your own filler (water, tempera, honey, resins, acrylic medium, oils, etc) to make your own paints.

Stay-Wet Palette- Essential for keeping your acrylics for drying out on the palette. You can buy these, but I make my own by putting some wet cloth or napkins under a piece of baking paper. The baking paper becomes my palette and the water seeps up through it slowly to keep the paint moist.

Yes it is. This does not by any means mean I get to paint all the time though. A career in art has to be very flexible and varied, and find it’s income in a lot of different places. My primary income is through sales through my website www.fairiesandfantasy.com, and much of my time is spent simply filling orders, packing and shipping, maintaining the website and answering emails. I can often go weeks without time to paint between other business duties such as order filling, networking and negotiations for licensing products, account keeping, advertising, product development and design and so on. I even have some employees to help me now, and am still busy busy!

Needless to say, the favourite part of my job is still painting. That, and receiving samples of the cool products that manufacturers have licensed my art for!

Why not? I think I read too many fairytale and mythology books, and watched too many sci-fi and fantasy movies as a child. I just love getting caught up in magic, and being able to create images of magical things is even better!

My correct name is Selina Fenech (frequently confused as Selena Fenech or Selina French). Fenech is a Maltese name, from the country of Malta in the Mediterranean.  Selina is of Greek origin, and my parents told me they picked it over the other contender for my name at birth (Gabrielle) because of the moon the night I was born (Selina means “Moon”, from the Greek moon goddess Selene).

Fenech is said with a hard CH. So it’s pronounced “Fenneck”, like the Fennec Fox (how cute are they?! http://www.google.com.au/search?q=fennec+fox&hl=en&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=g2zOTYbzOIK2vQPjnoHoDw&ved=0CC8QsAQ&biw=1920&bih=955).

I am not affiliated with The Fairy Society, FuzzB, Fantasy Fabric Blocks or any other business run by Sherri Baldy. Any contracts I had with TFS ended in 2008. Any artwork of mine or reference to my name on TFS sites is unauthorised. If you are an artist considering working with The Fairy Society or Sherri Baldy, I advise caution. If you want to hear my experiences, please contact me and I will be willing to share them in private conversation.