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Description
It's finally finished! I highly recommend looking at it with the full view, to see the little details. Goodness, the amount of time... and there are tons of things I really want to add, but when I try it turns out meh. This tablet thing is definitely a learning curve, and I kinda wish I'd gotten it sooner so I could use it to its fullest extent on a piece like this, with more experience behind me. I'm pretty proud of it nonetheless.

Horse Name: Aramathya
Rider Name: Anna Nordstrand
Stables: Falken Stud
Show: Summer Dressage Show [link]
Class Entered: Spirit Horse Dressage
Horse Reference: [link]
Extra image: [link]

Last day. Last class. Last entry. It was Aramathya’s job to round off the Summer Dressage Show, and if everything went as planned, she would do so on a high note. It didn’t matter if it went well or poorly, though; nothing could destroy Anna’s mood this evening. She was positively over the moon; a few minutes ago, Aithne had agreed to let Anna bring Aramathya back to Falkengård with her. Wynterfell would come too, dependent on Ara as he was.

“So… does she have tack or something?” Gabriel asked, eyeing the mare up and down. He had only been at Firelight for a few days, and was not yet accustomed to striped horses with antlers and supernatural abilities. They were slowly winning him over, though; Ara was too sweet to dislike, anyway. A lonely butterfly flitted around the mare’s head.

“Yes,” Anna answered with a cryptic smile. She was so happy that she wasn’t even complaining about wearing a dress for the performance. “But don’t worry, she’ll handle it on her own… watch.” She patted the mare’s shoulder. Anna swore she could see a glimmer of amusement in the mare’s eyes, as if laughing at Gabriel’s suspicion.

“Seriously, don’t worry about it. Give me a boost, will you?” Anna said, snapping Gabe out of his reverie. He nodded hesitantly and hoisted her up onto the gigantic mare’s back. If Anna had ridden Saigon without tack the other day, he supposed she could ride Aramathya without a saddle or bridle as well. For Anna, it was like sinking into a warm bubble bath; Aramathya’s presence soothed the aches and pains in her hip and thigh, and made her feel more comfortable than she had been in days. “See you later,” she added with a cheerful wave at Gabe from atop her lofty seat, before directing Aramathya forward and towards the arena.

They entered the ring, walking towards the middle before halting. Anna gave the judges a brief salute. “Okay girl, show ‘em what you’ve got,” she whispered. Aramathya snorted softly, and lowered her muzzle to the ground as if to graze. Instead, however, bright daisies began sprouting out of the grass. The flowers grew taller, and then began encasing Ara’s face, weaving themselves together in a chain that ran from behind her ears down to her mouth. She nipped off the stems gently once they had grown enough to develop a set of reins as well, and then raised her head.
The pale mare didn’t move, but her markings began to glow like streaks of emerald. The ground almost seemed to rumbled slightly, as trees began sprouting from the earth. They grew at an unearthly rate, soon tall and thick as an old forest. It was no doubt taxing on the mare to produce such a feat, but Ara was nothing if not determined. She set into motion, weaving her way among her wooden children at a drafty but elegant pace; whenever she passed a tree, it would grow a little taller, or a patch of mushrooms would spring up, or lichens would crawl down the banches. As if out of nowhere, a cloud of butterflies appeared, bringing vibrant colors and motion to the woodland stage.

It was almost as if the mare had forgotten about her audience; she continued to add little flourishes to her creation, slowly turning the arena into her own ideal forest. It was lucky that they were the last entry; it would break her heart to have to kill off her precious trees and take them down so that the next rider had a free ring. Cracka Jack could take care of these pines for her after she left. Breathing deeply, Anna relaxed and allowed Aramathya to conduct herself as she desired. There was no way that this week could have ended any better.

Referencing: Googled butterflies for about half an hour to get an idea of general shapes and how the veining in the wings looks, no specific images used to draw the individual butterflies though. No other refs used.

Art copyrighted to myself, do not use, copy, distribute, reupload, post somewhere, claim as your own, etc ad nauseum without my permission. Basically, if it involves this artwork ending up on a page that is not this page, don't do it.

Description
It's finally finished! I highly recommend looking at it with the full view, to see the little details. Goodness, the amount of time... and there are tons of things I really want to add, but when I try it turns out meh. This tablet thing is definitely a learning curve, and I kinda wish I'd gotten it sooner so I could use it to its fullest extent on a piece like this, with more experience behind me. I'm pretty proud of it nonetheless.

Horse Name: Aramathya
Rider Name: Anna Nordstrand
Stables: Falken Stud
Show: Summer Dressage Show [link]
Class Entered: Spirit Horse Dressage
Horse Reference: [link]
Extra image: [link]

Last day. Last class. Last entry. It was Aramathya’s job to round off the Summer Dressage Show, and if everything went as planned, she would do so on a high note. It didn’t matter if it went well or poorly, though; nothing could destroy Anna’s mood this evening. She was positively over the moon; a few minutes ago, Aithne had agreed to let Anna bring Aramathya back to Falkengård with her. Wynterfell would come too, dependent on Ara as he was.

“So… does she have tack or something?” Gabriel asked, eyeing the mare up and down. He had only been at Firelight for a few days, and was not yet accustomed to striped horses with antlers and supernatural abilities. They were slowly winning him over, though; Ara was too sweet to dislike, anyway. A lonely butterfly flitted around the mare’s head.

“Yes,” Anna answered with a cryptic smile. She was so happy that she wasn’t even complaining about wearing a dress for the performance. “But don’t worry, she’ll handle it on her own… watch.” She patted the mare’s shoulder. Anna swore she could see a glimmer of amusement in the mare’s eyes, as if laughing at Gabriel’s suspicion.

“Seriously, don’t worry about it. Give me a boost, will you?” Anna said, snapping Gabe out of his reverie. He nodded hesitantly and hoisted her up onto the gigantic mare’s back. If Anna had ridden Saigon without tack the other day, he supposed she could ride Aramathya without a saddle or bridle as well. For Anna, it was like sinking into a warm bubble bath; Aramathya’s presence soothed the aches and pains in her hip and thigh, and made her feel more comfortable than she had been in days. “See you later,” she added with a cheerful wave at Gabe from atop her lofty seat, before directing Aramathya forward and towards the arena.

They entered the ring, walking towards the middle before halting. Anna gave the judges a brief salute. “Okay girl, show ‘em what you’ve got,” she whispered. Aramathya snorted softly, and lowered her muzzle to the ground as if to graze. Instead, however, bright daisies began sprouting out of the grass. The flowers grew taller, and then began encasing Ara’s face, weaving themselves together in a chain that ran from behind her ears down to her mouth. She nipped off the stems gently once they had grown enough to develop a set of reins as well, and then raised her head.
The pale mare didn’t move, but her markings began to glow like streaks of emerald. The ground almost seemed to rumbled slightly, as trees began sprouting from the earth. They grew at an unearthly rate, soon tall and thick as an old forest. It was no doubt taxing on the mare to produce such a feat, but Ara was nothing if not determined. She set into motion, weaving her way among her wooden children at a drafty but elegant pace; whenever she passed a tree, it would grow a little taller, or a patch of mushrooms would spring up, or lichens would crawl down the banches. As if out of nowhere, a cloud of butterflies appeared, bringing vibrant colors and motion to the woodland stage.

It was almost as if the mare had forgotten about her audience; she continued to add little flourishes to her creation, slowly turning the arena into her own ideal forest. It was lucky that they were the last entry; it would break her heart to have to kill off her precious trees and take them down so that the next rider had a free ring. Cracka Jack could take care of these pines for her after she left. Breathing deeply, Anna relaxed and allowed Aramathya to conduct herself as she desired. There was no way that this week could have ended any better.

Referencing: Googled butterflies for about half an hour to get an idea of general shapes and how the veining in the wings looks, no specific images used to draw the individual butterflies though. No other refs used.

Art copyrighted to myself, do not use, copy, distribute, reupload, post somewhere, claim as your own, etc ad nauseum without my permission. Basically, if it involves this artwork ending up on a page that is not this page, don't do it.