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Description
There are many versions of the mythological gathering known as "The Wild Hunt", but I illustrated mine with a nod to the Celtic/British, and a bit of my own dream narrative. This a fearsome gathering of vengeful spirits racing across the aether, hunting the unwary or the foolish. At the front of the hunt is a giant dark bear of furious strength, representing the raw power of nature. The indifferent stag represents the brutal indifference of the wild. He is also a "god" of the hunt here, pulling his company with his immense gravity of power. The dark hounds are actually hell hounds, negative spirits sent from the underworld to pursue prey, and to drag the captured down with them. Ghosts of ravens and other carrion birds keep behind the group, waiting for any scraps to devour. One of the ghosts carries a rowan branch, a symbol of transformative power and the waning months of the year. A silver hooked cord binds the company together, in both the physical world, and the dream world.

Scratchboard and watercolor (with a limited amount of post processing to correct scanner errors), 24x12 inches. This piece was a behemoth of a time sink at 250-ish hours. Multiple mistakes and were made, and one catastrophic failure forced me to restart. The carving tools used in this piece were a fine point etching needle, steel wool, and fiberglass. The background was exclusively carved out with the fine point etching needle. Each creature is the result of at least 5-7 redraws and color applications. This gives my finished pieces a very nice engraved appearance, along with a "shimmer" from the mixture of the depth of carving and the application of watercolor layers. The result is a huge amount of time spent on any given piece, and a unique physical presence.

Description
There are many versions of the mythological gathering known as "The Wild Hunt", but I illustrated mine with a nod to the Celtic/British, and a bit of my own dream narrative. This a fearsome gathering of vengeful spirits racing across the aether, hunting the unwary or the foolish. At the front of the hunt is a giant dark bear of furious strength, representing the raw power of nature. The indifferent stag represents the brutal indifference of the wild. He is also a "god" of the hunt here, pulling his company with his immense gravity of power. The dark hounds are actually hell hounds, negative spirits sent from the underworld to pursue prey, and to drag the captured down with them. Ghosts of ravens and other carrion birds keep behind the group, waiting for any scraps to devour. One of the ghosts carries a rowan branch, a symbol of transformative power and the waning months of the year. A silver hooked cord binds the company together, in both the physical world, and the dream world.

Scratchboard and watercolor (with a limited amount of post processing to correct scanner errors), 24x12 inches. This piece was a behemoth of a time sink at 250-ish hours. Multiple mistakes and were made, and one catastrophic failure forced me to restart. The carving tools used in this piece were a fine point etching needle, steel wool, and fiberglass. The background was exclusively carved out with the fine point etching needle. Each creature is the result of at least 5-7 redraws and color applications. This gives my finished pieces a very nice engraved appearance, along with a "shimmer" from the mixture of the depth of carving and the application of watercolor layers. The result is a huge amount of time spent on any given piece, and a unique physical presence.