Drowzy summer dreaming on a rock in a river. Little elfs like big books, and big furry friends for pillows. The water runs lazily, taking time to rest and think. The air's too warm for work, the day to hot for play: it's time to join the river in rest and reflection.

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It's summer now, as people in the norhtern hemisphere may have noticed. This past week as been particularly hot, with Thursday and Friday topping the charts at 112° F and 117° F respectively. Today (Saturday) was a relative breeze: only around 105° F. >.< I think this may have played some part in my selection of scenery for this picture, as the best place to be on a hot day is down by the river, where relief from the heat is only a quick dunk and splash away.

So I sketched out this scene, with a cute little elf napping with a good book and a large lion-like creature. (Perhaps a relation of Aslan?) Then I realized I had drawn a doozy for myself to color: reflections!

I am a pretty fearless artist, I gladly welcome challenge, but this picture was the first to have me really scared in many, many years. I have never seriously drawn reflections before, and for this piece I spent some time in a real river, looking at how the reflections and the water interacted with one another.

I also nearly killed my left hand while doing the leaves for the trees on the right and left. *ArofaTamahn is working on a truly magnificent piece that has some bushes in it, and as he was painting the individual leaves I refused to be outdone, even though he was using a huge digital file and a tablet, and I was working with pencils on a little piece of paper.

Art and related prose © myself.

This picture appears on page 83 of my Black Book.
Enjoy.