The Stargazer

“A passage between the earth and sky”

When I imagine the forest spirits in their world, I think about their relationships with the trees and other forest life. But the Stargazer is different.

I was listening to Spinning Away (Brian Eno and John Cale) a lot while the idea for this creature was growing in my mind, so maybe it’s not a surprise that I see the Stargazer under the open sky.

He reaches into the sky in the same way that trees do, drawing energy and sustenance from the sky to root it in the ground.

Drawing the creatures often helps me make decisions about how I want them to look. With the Stargazer, I originally thought I wanted to glaze it in black, but when I was painting this illustration I just couldn’t see it.

The pale blue made me realise that I should glaze it in one of my own glazes that I called Celestial, with some copper to pick out the details. The end result was just what I hoped, I loved it so much I had to take it home!