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More from =Gold-Seven

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art inspires music inspires art

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March 3, 2011
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:icongold-seven:
"The sword and the harp," said Dafydd. "The true bard must wield both. And where would one be without the other?"
"The sword can live without the harp," Aedan said.
"Can it? The harp cannot live without the sword, no. Of what would it sing, if not of the struggle of princes, the blood and dust of battle? But the reverse is just as true. The monk that sits in dusty, ill-lit scriptoriums, faithfully entrusting his histories to rolls of parchment, what, in the end, does he do? He only produces more dust as those faithfully recorded histories crumble and are forgotten. The harp that fills the halls and the hearts, that takes the dust and blood of battles and turns it into glory – the harp means immortality."

As you can see, I am fully embracing that new idea of Bard!Aedan. :D The snippet is not from the actual novel, but is a dialogue that might have occurred sometime during Aedan's training.

[link]


Inspiration: "The Mabinogion" illustrated by Alan Lee. This man is awe-inspiring. And plain inspiring.

Very loose reference (moved further and further away from it when I incorporated the harp): [link] from *SenshiStock

Harp loosely referenced from the 15th century harp of Brian Boru [link] (probably not accurate for the time I'm writing about, but what the heck, it looked so damn cool).

Watercolour, pencil. Harp strings touched up in Photoshop.

Tutorial for the painting process is here:


EDIT: Thank you guys so much for the DD! :woohoo: It's not my first, but it's the first I feel that truly and thoroughly deserves it.
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Daily Deviation

Given 2011-06-28
Suggester says: "I love how it looks. The colors are soft, and the image (of the middle) looks relaxing and quiet. I almost feel like I can hear the music of the harp. On the sides, a completely different image. It represents battle, war. You can see a sword and a horse. The artist used a different technique to do those two side images. This contrast gives a very good impact (and yet both middle and sides combine together to make a single image)."

The Sword and the Harp by *Gold-Seven ( Suggested by ~sebaselciclon and Featured by `Mollinda )
love 22 22 joy 6 6 wow 4 4 mad 0 0 sad 1 1 fear 0 0 neutral 0 0
:iconserenascipi:
Mood: Love ~SerenaSCipi Mar 6, 2013
reeeeally like this one!!!
Reply
:icongarlondgilesion:
Mood: Sentimental ~GarlondGilesion Nov 20, 2012
I fell in love at once.
Reply
:iconmingo95:
~mingo95 Nov 8, 2012  Hobbyist Traditional Artist
great work
Reply
:iconbibiarts:
=BiBiARTs Oct 20, 2012   Digital Artist
Your beautiful work is featured in our group's weekly feature :iconsoulcollectors: [link] :hug:
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:iconkellascradle:
Mood: Wow! ~KellasCradle Jun 22, 2012   Traditional Artist
I adore this, I love all of the details.
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:iconmoonlittragedy:
~MoonlitTragedy Apr 25, 2012  Hobbyist General Artist
Reminds me of a gentle version of gatts from berserk. if you haven't checked out berserk you should. its incredible. i think you would like it... at least the artwork. its quite dark
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:iconwishingrain:
~Wishingrain Apr 6, 2012
wow! i play the harp, so to me this is extra amazing!
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:icongold-seven:
=Gold-Seven Apr 6, 2012  Professional Traditional Artist
Hey cool! :)
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:iconaikurisu:
*Aikurisu Mar 4, 2012
This is easily one of your best works and much deserving of the DD. The whole nature of it really draws me in and it's great seeing something so cultural from Aedan's side of things. Reminds me that I need to read your stories, too. =D
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:icongold-seven:
=Gold-Seven Mar 7, 2012  Professional Traditional Artist
Haha yes, Aedan got a definite culture boost while still remaining his old obnoxious self. The combination is great. Such fu to write. And draw. :D
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