Earthsea: Courtyard in Roke

I finished it!!!

Another one in my Earthsea series. This is the very first scene in "The Farthest Shore" - young prince Arren/Lebannen has just arrived on Roke island, to bring a message from his father regarding the waning of magic on their island, to the committee of mages who rule Earthsea in the absence of a lawful king. He is about to meet the Archmage for the first time - he sits and waits under his namesake the rowan tree, gazing at the "fountain of life" in the Courtyard of the Fountain, the center of the Great House (and wizarding school) on Roke. Ged, now Archmage, regards him from the shadows before he steps up to speak to him and hear his message. They later set out together on a very long journey....

This is an image I've had a lot of difficulty with. It actually was the second painting in the series that I started on - back in February - but I hit all sort of hitches and completed two other ones in the meanwhile. First of all, I had to go and do some architecture studies in Europe before I managed to get courtyard and its perspective right. Then the colour balance played all sorts of tricks on me, and to find Lebannen took me quite a while (eventually I just found him in a blob of colour, sitting there under that tree). But I think in the end it was worth spending all that time on this image! I may not turn out to be the faves raker that a couple of the other images have been, but I am very happy with how it has turned out.
Especially Ged.

I actually met a guy who looks suspiciously like this Ged - so much so that another person actually pointed it out! Only, Ged has been looking pretty much like this since February, and I only met that guy in August... :spooked: - and that's the second time I've met someone from one of my paintings!

Anyone else care to share any paranormal experiences with regard to their paintings?

All characters, names, places, items of magic etc. are copyright Ursula K. Le Guin.

oil on canvas. 2009.