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| The Great Portal Tree © 2012 Lloyd Harvey |
At the start of the new calendar year, I always make sure that the first painting, be it digital or acrylic, I create, be a piece for me. A personal illustration that derives from no commission. This piece, called The Great Portal Tree, is the first creation of 2012 and comes from a world I like to visit often with my personal work. Its narrative relevance to future novels I plan to write, is pretty important and as such, I like to conceptually depict such places and write a little info about them.
The Details of the Tree
Somewhere, past sheer drops, along walkways covered in ice and protected by harsh winds, there is an open clearing where mossy grass grows and mist has permanently settled over the ground. An almost tangible presence of ancient magic thickens the air and dense cloud looms above pointy mountain faces. Central to this pocket of serenity, stands a large, curved tree that emits a familiar kind of warmth; the kind of warmth you would associate with being in a comfortable room with a lit fire and a soft, furry creature humming gently on your lap.
There should be many meters of snow covering every inch of ground, being as it is located high up in the labyrinth of sharp peaks and jagged teeth of the Central Mountain Range but, because of the pleasant external nature of this towering plant, only pockets of thin snow can be seen here and there on the grass; much like how you would imagine fluffy white islands in vast tranquil seas of green.
It should be clear now that this tree, is no normal tree. Upon sight of it, the many aqua glowing, bulbous orbs of pure energy of the most potent kind which dot the trunk would tell you that the tree in which you are looking at, is a entity of powerful mana. The huge, human like face made from the bark which sits near the base would also tell you something, literally, for it talks in all the tongues of the land. Up in the higher reaches, glass lanterns hang freely from thick branches and seem sporadically dotted about. They glow with the same aqua light that emits from the naturally occurring orbs and a faint fizzing can be heard them.
To the right of the face, an opening can be seen, lit within by a single hanging glass ball. In this opening, an unassuming and plain looking door can be spied at the top of an number of dark and smooth, flagstone steps. Although the appearance of such a door wouldn’t say anything other than ‘normal,’ what is beyond the panels of wood and brassy hinges is considered to be extraordinary.
This towering plant, is known as The Great Portal Tree and there are a few more like them hidden from view across the planet. If you are of human kind, you would be able to place your hand on the handle, push it down with little effort and swing it inwardly open. You would also be able to walk through it. No species other than human could enter this particular Portal Tree. No Drayordian, no Faerie or Ray Wolf, no insect nor bird, would be able to pass through the archway and into the world beyond for the corridor attached to that door, leads to the Spectral Plane for Man and Woman.
The Great Portal Tree, is the door way in which the living may walk through by choice, to The Realm of the Dead, to the land of Spirits and to the Forest of Sorrow.
Lloyd
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