Cúpláidh - a Faerie

Cúpláidh

This watercolor painting is 11x14 and another one of my faeries. I wanted to give him an in the woods all natural look. With a bit of dust and dirt on the skin, and a beard.

Literary character Sketch

Cúpláidh is a type of Centaur creature. His duty is to protect and uphold the balance of the woodlands. He works with several creatures trying to keep the boundaries of their sacred sites safe, even from humans. This may include shape-shifting as a human.

His is a deer stag and often uses is shape-shifting to transform as a deer or human to help lost humans return home. Those humans who stray into their lands. He is also the enforcer should unwanted encounters with gremlins, goblins, or similar creatures.

In this depiction he is being informed of some disconcerting news about lost trees, again involving the foolish naivete of humans. (This came about at the time the emerald ash borer was devastating some of my favorite local parks)

You see that his arm is quite flexed holding such a dainty faerie. Too many people make the mistake of thinking these dainty beauties are frail and light. Let me assure you they are wickedly strong, though gentle, and immensely dense in body on account of their phenomenal power, though small. They weigh more than the average human.

I worked on this conceptual drawing as a distraction to the wicked wicked blizzard we were driving through in Tennessee. It was Valentines of 2004 on my Grandmother's 80th birthday party. The weather was so severe that semi trucks from Ontario Canada were strewn on the sides of the express way. (I still think it would have been fun to detour on the scenic mountain drive, But something always happens we when drive through these mountains) It was a nerve racking 5mph; but amazingly beautiful drive home.