My daughter was the model for this fantasy scene, created as a portfolio piece in pursuit of young adult fantasy book cover work. The unicorn is modeled from an Egyptian Arabian stallion, and the piece features a lurking Raven (representing Munin, or “memory” in old Norse – one of Odin’s two Raven sidekicks).

Venetian glaze is a renaissance technique of the old masters, and involves creating washes of walnut or linseed oil and pigment to create many translucent layers for slow and deep color build up. Each layer takes several days to dry so the technique is not for the impatient, but the results can be quite special