Elven spellsinger

This is close to not being a wargames related post, but it is one of the major painting experiments I've been working on for the last week or two. Produced for an online painting competition of Warhammer.org; the theme was 'A kind of Magic'.



I decided, that as I couldn't really do off-source lighting effects well, I'd pull an optical illusion and do levitation instead.



The original model chosen was this elven lady, firstly I'll show you how she started out looking:

A nice model, giving a good sense of movement, but I didn't like the obvious physical attachment to the ground. So I removed all that and replaced it with a more discreet fixing to a nearby tree stump.

After a lot of drilling and cutting, and even more painting she was as finished as I'd get her. Then it was to the display base. The Idea was to have a circle of ground being blown clear of detritus, as the force of magic keeping her aloft spread out - ground effect magic!

I hope the effect is evident:
This shows all I've learnt in the last 9 months with acrylic paints, and the last 15 or so using an online painting forum. The pastel blending on the staff, the washes on the leaves and hair, the colour matching was all beyond me this time last year.

So, any good? The votes will tell me...