the forgotten crowns

The finished painting above…some progress photos below…
This tapestry will forever be meaningful to me as the painting that allowed me to create in a way that I hadn’t ever dared to before. It made me feel like a grown-up artist, and a wide-eyed child, all at once.

There was once a great queen

who wished to live hidden from the turmoil of the world.

For her heart was not a ruler’s heart,

and she longed for peace rather than power.

So the queen stepped down from her throne,

and crowned no successor.

She set forth that the earth would no longer belong to man,

but to the creatures that came before us.

As is with most tales that mark the turn of tides,

there were those who wanted what the queen once had.

A great battle was waged for power and dominion,

by those who would wish for no peace.

And so the once-great queen took up her sword

and led a legion of mighty warriors

to protect what they held dear.

They stood side by side, and pledged fealty to one another.

And when the war was fought, and the stones were set,

and the moon shone again on the tall noiseless grass;

the once-great queen laid down her sword and wealth

at the highest peak of the fell.

In the distance, a warm light in an unfamiliar window called her home.

In front of her, a well-worn path marked the years of will and wonder.

And the flowers and trees ruled the world once more,

while winged beasts of feathers and scales

cast shadows in the land beneath the hill.