The Sacred Tree

Since my friend Pauline honored me with a costume like those worn by the Sisters of the Sacred Tree, I was inspired to design a symbol that represents that order. It would be worn on their robes, cloaks and gowns so that they were readily identified by that crest. This is a common druid symbol and I saw many incredibly beautiful renditions of the "Tree of Life" done in celtic knotwork. There are no celts in Tiaera. My love for that type of art compelled me to turn a blind eye to that fact. It's art and it's historical and if I can "borrow" things like castles, elves and humans from our own earth, I can borrow the celtic knotwork designs. Maybe I will call this type of artwork "Tiaeran Knotwork" or "Druidic Knotwork" or "Ancient Knotwork" if pressed to give it a name for a story.


This is my first time doing any kind of celtic knotwork design. I referred to a book and the Internet and spent hours trying to create something that was uniquely mine. I thought using graph paper would help and to some extent it did, but not always. I had to draw and redraw all the shapes until they looked the same width all around. Then I scanned the black and white pencil drawing then with my stylus/tablet I carefully drew and cleaned the sketch. I also ended up cutting the tree top from the trunk and worked on those parts separately. This is the sketch I started out with.


Remember this?

You may recall in a previous post that I drew a sketch of Audrey and her friend, Karyn. Here it is again.


Well, my friend Pauline who is a talented seamstress and who enjoys making period costumes was inspired to make Karyn's outfit. Great job, Pauline! You even used the colors as I indicated in the story as well. I am flattered by your creations.






If you wish to see more of her lovely costumes, find her at Facebook under Pauline Cortez3.

Audrey and Karyn before the Training Session

Last night, I was inspired to do a sketch of the scene where Audrey and Karyn are preparing for the training session (see yesterday's post), but I decided to draw Karyn in her druid gown. In the story, she is dressed like Audrey so she can train also. I tried not to make her look like a nun or like she was wearing pajamas. This would be the type of outfit she would wear on those occasions where she would be seen in public. This was also a good time to show how small Audrey (an adult gnome) stands next to Karyn. Gnomes were often mistaken for human children because of their size and built. At this point in the story, Audrey and Karyn are in their late teens in human years. I will be doing a short article about what druids are like in Tiaera soon.

copyright EV Medina2013