Earthsea: In the Desert

The last of the Earthsea paintings (for the time being...) -

This painting has a lot of personal meaning for me and was one of the first scenes I knew I was going to paint, but have been holding back on it to get more practice, and do it justice (I don't know if I have...).

I love the sense of both intimacy and estrangement in this scene - Tenar and Ged run away together, but they won't wind up marrying and living happily ever after, as the usual story pattern goes - at least not for a very, very long time!

I guess when I was younger, I used to think that relationships don't "count" unless you officially become a couple - but as I get older I find that all the maybe's and could-have-beens are just as valid and significant. And some of the people who have the deepest influence on our lives are not the ones we marry or live together.

There, that was my bit of relationship philosophy for the day.

From The Tombs of Atuan: Tenar and Ged have escaped from the Tombs. After exhausted sleep, Tenar wakes up and wonders at the strangeness of her situation, the beauty of the desert sunset, and the man who is sleeping beside her.

oil on canvas.

Earthsea and all characters, places and magic therein are copyright Ursula K Le Guin and her legal representatives [link]