Helen on the Rocks of the Dumoine
©2007, 21" by 11", Watercolour, pencil, ink

I have two versions of this painting available as prints, one that is cropped, and one that is full size. The cropped print is actually just the coloured section of a much larger whole (shown below, as well as in a larger version when you click on the image to the right).

The painting is based on a photograph I took of my friend Helen while on a trip down the Dumoine River in September of 2006. At the time, I was sitting on a rock myself, and working on a painting called "Determination". I looked over my shoulder, saw Helen sitting there staring upriver, and thought it would make a great painting, so I took a quick picture.

The idea to paint only part of it while leaving the rest in pencil came to me during the planning process, when I realized that the image was perfect to illustrate a passage of the fairy tale book I was writing at the time (I'm now finished, and it's available for free at: www.princessetheria.com).

In the book, the Queen becomes increasingly unable to see the magic all around her, even though she lived in an enchanted forest.

"For her, every day was dark and gloomy with an ever present threat of rain. For her, it was like the colour was gradually bleeding to grey all around the edges of her perception."

This painting, I think, perfectly captures this feeling.