This is the second in a series of four sculptures I created. Each sculpture is a woodland fairy home representing one of the four seasons. This particular sculpture is the autumn fairy home! From the very beginning, I planned to have this home built into a stump. The idea of a stump house, cozy against the chilly weather and its roots intermingling with autumn leaves really appealed to me! I decided to create a door with an overhang as the entrance to this home. I added a clay chimney, and gravel walkway, and the structure of the house was pretty much complete! The stump itself is cedar wood, which added a nice reddish tint to the autumn scene. For the surrounding foliage, I knew I wanted it to look as autumnal as possible, while still retaining that realistic forest floor appearance. I painstakingly cut out tiny autumn leaves in a variety of shapes to incorporate throughout the design. The ground surrounding the home is made up of soil, and green and brown moss. I wanted to include the green moss to add nice contrast to the orange and remain true to nature. There would still be a little green amidst the browns, oranges, and golds, as winter would not yet have arrived. Once the terrain was finished, I added the leaves, rocks, sticks, and bark, to correctly portray the forest floor. Later, I added some larger elements, such as pinecones, larger rocks, logs, hand-painted mushrooms, and orange sunflowers. Some additional elements surrounding the fairy home include a little wheelbarrow, with a pumpkin inside, a small table in the backyard, with an orange potted flower, a small fence, and a little campfire ring. I added several pyrographic elements, as woodburning always makes me think of autumn. I added little wood burned designs to the overhang, the door, and the wheelbarrow. These small details are what truly elevate this sculpture. All the colors were chosen to convey the warm, cozy feeling that autumn brings!
