Faery Reflection (Claire's Wings): by Kinuko Craft
Kinuko Craft is a wonderfully talented artist. Her finely detailed, delicate paintings blend beautiful colors and light into truly beautiful works of art.
This painting came about because of my daughter. Her favorite book for many years was The Twelve Dancing Princesses, which is illustrated by Kinuko Craft. I wanted to have my daughter's portrait painted, and it seemed like a fun idea to have her portrait painted by the illustrator of her favorite book. I was familiar with Kinuko's other works both as a children's book illustrator and fantasy book cover artist, and my wife and I both love her beautiful, romantic style.
We contacted Kinuko, and she graciously agreed to paint my daughter's portrait, even though she has a very full slate of book illustration projects. Kinuko insisted on absolute artistic freedom over the setting and interpretation of the painting, which I agreed to readily. I did not want to dictate the parameters of the painting, but rather wished to take full advantage of her imagination and let her vision guide the direction of the painting. I sent Kinuko several pictures of my daughter in various poses, along with a short video clip of my daughter having a tea party with her stuffed animals. Kinuko wanted to get a sense for her looks and personality prior to developing ideas for the portrait.
As the direction for the painting began to crystalize, Kinuko sent me a preliminary sketch of the painting. Follow this LINK to see the sketch. Up until that point, we had only hints as to what direction Kinuko was taking. Needless to say, we were pretty excited, and my daughter was ecstatic. (What little girl wouldn't like a picture of herself with wings.) After receiving the preliminary sketch, I provided Kinuko with additional pictures of my daughter in the same pose as the sketch so that she could use them for the final painting.
The finished painting arrived at last, beautifully framed and ready for hanging. My daughter begged to hang it in her bedroom, but we hung it in our front entryway, the better to show it off to visitors. I love the painting, not only for Kinuko's perfect depiction of my daughter, but also for the myriad details, like the fish, the reflections of the forest animals, and the irridescent reflection of the fairy wings in the water.
Kinuko Craft's Homepage: Kinuko's Home page contains an on-line gallery, some biographical information, links to her agents, information on purchasing posters and prints, and a very interesting section (not easily found, click HERE) regarding her unique oils over watercolor technique. Her home page also contains previews of CHILDREN'S BOOKS she has illustrated, including links to the books' Amazon.com listings. My personal favorite is Sleeping Beauty, perhaps the most beautifully illustrated children's book I have ever seen.
Back to Kai's Art Page
Back to Kai's HOME Page