This is the path to Eden.
This is the heaven's stair.
Beyond the fleeting veil of glory:
This is the gate of slaughter.
_

She is Ahsdri'ehl, ruler of the Ahn; a mythological figurehead of greed and corruption. It is told that she stands on a ruined staircase beyond the wastelands, enticing men to cross into the storm beyond. She promises wealth, power, glory—but all who follow her find nothing but their own doom.

Sorry for the lull in my output. A lot of stuff has been keeping me busy, and then the past few weeks my insomnia’s reared it’s ugly head again so I’ve been exhausted with a chronic headache. It really slowed me down.

Anyway…I did this concept last year with acrylics, but it looked more like a Snow White takeoff and was really static and boring. So I gave it another try. I’m much, much happier with this version. It was such a challenge to paint…I wanted everything to look very chaotic without being senseless, and the figure was to be static without being boring… it took a lot of thought to work it. The sky is the most complicated sky I’ve ever painted, and it took me ages to figure out how to get the water to look right.

Detail shot here: [link]
Old version here: [link]