Waiting For Fireflies

Every year I wait for my favorite part of summer, the time when the fireflies finally come out. They're not here yet, and won't be here until sometime in June, but I'm waiting, and thinking about how I might capture them... such as how this artist, Tsuneaki Hiramatsu, has. His images are time lapse photographs of fireflies. Doesn't it make you think of faery tales?

Tsuneaki Hiramatsu, from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/beautiful-flight-paths-fireflies-180949432/?no-ist

It reminds me of a Kinuko Craft painting for the cover of Juliet Marillier's wonderful re-telling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", titled "Wildwood Dancing". Wonderful summer reading if you've never picked it up.

Kinuko Craft, Wildwood Dancing (cover art), from http://melodyfarmerphotography.blogspot.com/2012/01/art-of-kinuko-craft.html

Or, for that matter, Craft's painting for her illustrated version of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses".

Kinuko Craft, The Twelve Dancing Princesses

John Duncan, "The Riders of the Sidhe"

John Duncan, "The Riders of the Sidhe", 1911

I had never seen this painting before, or heard of John Duncan. What an exciting new discovery! He sounds like quite an odd character too; he said he heard "faerie music" when he painted, and married a woman whom he thought had discovered the Holy Grail in a well in Glastonbury.

Water Nymph

Summer is the perfect time to be a water nymph.

water nymph7 by NerySoul, http://nerysoul.deviantart.com/

Jean Baptiste Monge: Fae on Unusual Steeds

I just discovered the art of Jean Baptiste Monge. He paints the most enchanting scenes of elves and gnomes on steeds of birds or small animals. I love his technique and composition. His style reminds me a bit of Arthur Rackham, though what illustrator of fae hasn't been influenced by Arthur Rackham.

Jean Baptiste Monge

I think the tree in this one is extremely well done. For whatever reason, trees such as this one instantly call to mind spooks and goblins, and Monge has done an excellent job of obscuring it with mist. The bent form of the woman echoes that of the tree. I wonder what she could have in that cage; perhaps some maiden or child who wasn't wary enough to escape her.

Jean Baptiste Monge

You can see more of his art at http://www.jbmonge.com/ .