‘Princess Iandra’s get away’. Pencil drawing by Koldo Barroso, 2009
The night dropped her cloak and froze every living creature in the woods in total quietness. It was the signal for Princess Iandra’s getaway. An army of apparent trees came to life and showed their real identity: they were shamans!
All night, they ran out of the deep woodlands to save her life. They were lead by the elder one, who carried the sheltering chrysalis cocoon where Iandra had been sleeping for a long time. They had been waiting for the sun to come out this very day so she would morph into the Princess they’ve all been praying for…
To be continued…
Detail of ‘Princess Iandra’s get away’
This is the last post of this month at the Character Workshop. Next Wednesday I will announce the winner of a signed hand painted watercolor print of the the most popular piece of the month.
what’s not to love about Shaman trees?! hmmm….even though I love this I think I’ll vote for Lady Zakharova as my favorite…she’s always the most controversial and therefore the most interesting
I believe Boyhands is going to beat Zakharova, which makes it look like a battle between the cute world & the dark world!
I love trees that move ever so much, even if they are just shamans in disguise. The shaman is ever so handsome and wise looking!
I’m also intrigued by the story! The idea of a female savior in a woodsy area has always appealed to me, so this is probably one of my favorite of yours yet!
I know if there is a savior today, that will be a woman because our world needs to return to the ancient knowledge of the female world, the most instinctive one. Iandra represents the sleeping wisdom that is about to blossom, I’m glad that you like it.
This story has so many elements to it, very Tolkien yet very sleeping beauty, I am drawn to the history of Princess Iandra, at once curious to what she shall become and where she came from.
Shaman trees, princesses, intrigue….
Well you have definitely drawn in both myself and my 9 year old granddaughter. May we hear more?
Welcome to the Character Workshop Jayme! Tolkien and Grimm are some of my fav authors!
While I admire the incredible detail in all your work, this piece being no exception (the image showing the detail is fabulous), I must say that ‘The Tailswifters’ is very much my favourite illustration of all your recent posts.
Thank you Jesse, the original pieces are usually a lot larger than what I can show online. The original Zakharova -for instance- is about 14″ tall, so when you scale it smaller it looks like a lot of detail going on there.
Regarding the Tailswifters, I think they’re going to show up more in my future work, for some reason I like to see these guys messing all around…
Carolyn! I’d love to hear more about your grandkid and you! I’m really curious abiut it!
This sweet child has just turned 9 (going on about 60) and is my partner in art, laughter, reading and the joy of living. Firm believers in fairies and the invisible beings we are oft surrounded with, your stories sparked our interest. The Tailswifters made her laugh, Princess Iandra sent us outside to search for our own shamans, others brought out our empathetic tendencies….
Don’t get me started – I could go on for days
What a wonderful gift to have you both here! I know fairies and all the invisible beings that you say are all around us, there’s so much we still need to know and learn about this mysterious world… I’m very glad that you had a good time with those characters! And I’m always willing to hear grandma and grandkid stories, so feel free to tell anything you want to share.
BTW Carolyn, I don’t know if you’ve noticed about this but at the end of each post, where it says: “WHAT IT IS” there is a rating for the age, so you can always see which posts may be more adequate for Aivana’s age.
I send you both a flock of winged hugger faeries!
I did notice that, thank you.
Aiyana’s usual response to something a bit above her comfort level “whoa, to much information, thanks, I’ll read this one another time”
I only laugh ‘cuz sometimes I do the same thing.
Keep up the awesome work.
Carolyn, kids are always so sincere! and that’s something adults should learn to keep. And clever, because today we have to handle so much information… I try keep my posts from being overwhealming because I do just the same when I read other people’s blogs.
i hope that you continue this one even though it wasn’t chosen for last month? it’s one of my favorites, definitely…
But, Zoe… You want to save them all!