More work done. This painting doesn't come easy. I keep having to make big corrections, something I normally rarely have to do.
I'm making progress nonetheless.

I shortened the tree, for which I had to redo part of the background. This needs to be soften more as the transition of colours is rather abrupt now.
But I like it better with the shorter tree :D




And added the priestess. She has the tiny typical blue moon tattoo on her forehead that initiated priestesses of Avalon had. This means her dress should've been blue, but I didn't want all/most of the dresses to be blue.
A close up of her:'

Nice painting .

Thank you, Julie :)


As it is I've done a lot more work. The stairs have be redone, different colour too. Added the apple tree that goes with Avalon, stone circle etc.
The path leading from the stairs was much lighter at first, and to be honest I really loved it!
But then the priestess in front of the statue didn't stand out enough. I considered changing the colour of her dress, but decided against that.

I'm not sure yet whether or not I will paint one more priestess on the stairs, which was my original idea.

Nice painting .

Thank you, Julie :)

I dig it

Thank you, Bobtail!

Here's the finished work.
I'm happy with it!
The colours are not quite so bright/yellow in the real painting, but I can't get it right with my Xiaomi :/




I'll add a close up so you can also see the blue moon sickle tattoos on the foreheads of both priestesses.
Technically the one in orange/tan dress should be wearing a blue dress as they got the tattoo once initiated and then they wore woad-dyed blue dresses. But alas... Artistic freedom.
Maybe her blue one was in the wash, haha.

Amazing, that’s talent

Thank you so much, Jenny!

Nice painting .

Thank you, Julie!

Wow SparklingCrystal,

You have a lot of talent ...

Some people are just blessed I guessed...

Loving your latest piece Crystal. Think you’ve outdone yourself with this one!

Thank you so much, Jaan!
Thank goodness we all have something we're good at :)

Thank you so much, Delightful!
I strongly felt I did that with the other one with the 3 master in the harbour.
But this one is different as it comes from my heart and in that sense is way more meaningful to me!

The woad-dying priestess for instance... something that was done in Avalon as well, they had a secret recipe to get the specific colour for the priestess dresses.
I tried dying with woad some 15 yrs ago. Made a vat, not with pee, you can also be successful with soda ash (I think it was).
I'd bought all the goodies from a woman in the UK, but the temp of my vat wasn't high enough. I had to heat it electrically as we didn't have a garden at the time, and it was a crap summer as well.
So it failed abysmally.
In a way I should try again. I still do have some of the woad powder etc.

In any case, for me woad dying is strongly connected to Avalon so that had to be in the painting.

Apple tree as Avalon is the isle of apples...
Spiral... personal thing, I love spirals, hihi.

Legend has it that there used to be a stone circle on the Tor. Christians ruined that :'(
I didn't exactly paint the Tor, but the stone circle had to be there!

I was in two minds about the last priestess on the stairs. But dang was it a good decision to paint her there!
It just brings it all together :D

Anyhow, I'm truly happy that you appreciate it!!

BTW... you know what really stuns me? the way that tall cliff with the greenery on it truly looks 3D!
No clue how I managed to do it but damm did that work out well!

How interesting Crystal. Nice to read the story behind the inspiration so thanks for sharing. Hopefully one day soon you’ll try woad dyeing again with greater success

I agree, the greenery on the cliff is painted very well. Perhaps it was the way you used light and shade which gives it that 3D effect.

Again, one of your finest paintings to date.

Thank you, Delightful
Also for the correct spelling of dyeing. I had it wrong, spoke of dying woad, hahaha.

Hope to see more Avalon/Druid paintings.