The Warming Stone

You press onward toward the thickest and hottest area of mist and feel a mix of familiarity and eeriness, even danger. Something in wall of pale gray is taking shape, a white shadow, a cloud-like specter that is glaring at you through the thick air.

Without warning the ghostly figure rushes forward and dives into the warming stone, it is sucked inside like a vortex and absorbed. The rock becomes intolerably hot and you reflexively drop it and it fizzes and roils the water with bubbles causing the spring to boil with unbearable heat. You cannot be harmed by this fury but you still feel the scalding pain and anxiety about what you have encountered. Dread, discomfort, and the sudden rage of the water drive you away. As you cross the edge of the spring to descend the mountain you look back and see shapes in the mist multiplying into a large group, all watching you leave. 

You are unsure of what you have seen, or what you have done.

~ excerpt from The Warming Stone



I've decided on a name for my esk 550 - Yucca! It took Yucca an entire night and morning to climb the mountain, but when he got to the top, things didn't go as expected... This piece is a sequel to The Mountain River's Dream.

I tried some new things with this picture. I've been experimenting with different ways of using colour to show depth and to have detail decrease in the background. The experimental colouring I'm most proud of with this picture is the mist, which was fun to figure out a way to colour. Yucca's meant to be walking on snow-covered grass. The reference picture I used for the background is taken from Agua Calientes, the hot spring town on the way up to Machu Picchu. Some parts of the picture came out better than others and it was tricky to get the colour balance right in the scan, but overall, I'm happy I managed to finish the Waterways Quest.  

AP
10 AP base (shaded illustration)
+5 AP full body
+20 AP full or scenic background
+5 AP personal artwork
+5 AP Fresh Waters Biome
+10 AP Waterways Quest
+5 AP Shapes in the Mist Challenge
Total: 60 AP

GP
4 GP base (shaded illustration)
+2 GP full body
+6 GP full or scenic background
+2 GP Fresh Waters biome
+5 GP Waterways Quest
+2 GP Shapes in the Mist Challenge
Total: 21 GP