Step 31: Stop And Smell The (Blue Winter) Roses

I decided to work through my art slump by picking back up a piece I had started a few months ago and never got around to finishing. Before I post the image, a little context: I am a HUGE A Song of Ice and Fire fan. I read the first four books in 2008, and waited patiently with everyone else for A Dance with Dragons to come out in 2011.

Me waiting for The Winds of Winter.

I even got my copy of A Clash of Kings signed by George R. R. Martin at a book signing, and got to hang out with him at a fan-run moot right before the HBO show came out:

Back before he was an untouchable mega-star.

Which brings me to my latest piece. When I told George that my favorite character was Lyanna Stark, he looked me dead in the eye and said, "Your favorite character is a girl who died fifteen years before the events of the first book?" And I replied, "Well, yeah--she was a strong-willed young woman, and an expert equestrian like me. What's not to love about her?"

Joke's on you, George--you can't kill off my favorite character if she's already dead!

There's obviously a lot more to my interest in Lyanna Stark than what I could convey in five-seconds of face time with George. Lyanna is at the center of a very intriguing mystery that, up to this point, has not been revealed to readers of the books (or watchers of the show). Everything we know about her we've learned through the eyes of often untrustworthy narrators, so what little we're able to piece together about her life is seemingly contradictory. Did she love Robert Baratheon? Was she kidnapped and raped by Rhaegar Targaryen? What exactly happened at the Tower of Joy?

At the rate of George's writing, we may never know.

That's not to say there aren't any credible sources. Ned may have been biased towards his sister, but he didn't seem to have any ill-will towards Rhaegar Targaryen considering the hefty allegations. And Ser Barristan Selmy, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and arguably one of the most honorable men in Westeros, straight-up says "Rhaegar loved his Lady Lyanna" in ADWD. So, forgive me for stating the obvious, but I'm 99.9% sure there's a little more to the story of Rhaegar and Lyanna than just Grand Theft She-Wolf. And because I'm mildly obsessed with the mystery surrounding her, I put together this Mucha-inspired piece:

"Beautiful, and willful, and dead before her time."

The art is a direct appropriation of Alphonse Mucha's Primrose and Feather. The plan was to create a companion piece featuring Rhaegar Targaryen, but I dunno if I'll ever get around to doing it. Coloring is really not my forte, and after working on the colors alone for two days straight I eventually threw in the towel and said "fuck it", the result of which you see before you now. I will say, I enjoyed incorporating Stark symbolism and Lyanna lore into the piece, like the dire wolf and weirwood leaves of the North, and the Knight of the Laughing Tree shields behind her. We'll see if I can gather the energy to draw her beloved (???) dragon prince.