echo-bleu

[echo-bleu]

Raistlin and Crysania linocut I made to give to Elena Khanpira (author of the Last Trial libretto) when I met her a couple days ago!

[echo-bleu]

Raistlin and Crysania linocut I made to give to Elena Khanpira (author of the Last Trial libretto) when I met her a couple days ago!

[echo-bleu]

Raistlin and Crysania linocut I made to give to Elena Khanpira (author of the Last Trial libretto) when I met her a couple days ago!

[echo-bleu]

i ended up coloring it lol

prints

[echo-bleu]

Only ONE DAY LEFT!!

Pride Dragon Merchandise Kickstarter Ends Tomorrow!

The Kickstarter campaign to help us make stickers, magnets, key chains, earrings, washi tape, and lanyards out of these ten sweet, playful dragons ends July 2nd at 1 p.m. Eastern time!

As of yesterday, we’ve hit our first stretch goal, too – now, all backers will receive their chosen dragon(s) as digital files for personal use, as well as getting all the merchandise they’ve bought. Learn more about this project with art by Florilège, with dragons made based on 10 different Pride flags, by visiting our Kickstarter now.

(paging artist @echo-bleu )

[echo-bleu]

Branching off the queer pride flags here, i really wanted to do these flags. They’re a little less known, so, clockwise from the top: disability pride, neurodivergent pride and mad pride.

[ID: digital drawing of three cute dragons in a circle, holding hands. The top one is black, with wings in the pattern of the disability pride flag and yellow and red spikes, green eyes and blue claws. The one on the right is red with a yellow underbelly and eyes, and “spectrum” rainbow wings, with an infinity sign in rainbow colors on the chest. The one on the left is purple with a pink underbelly, eyes, horns and claws, and wings in the mad pride flag colors.]

[echo-bleu]

WIP Wednesday, Something Sunday, you know the ones...

I was tagged several times by @thewildballyntynesgrow and today by @my-dress-is-on-fire on my alter-ego (fandom) blog, but I really wanted to share this. It's a bit (a lot?) longer than Seven Sentences, though. Sorry? (not sorry)

It's from Crystal Spring Valley.

And this is Priya.

#.14.

Priya was certain they wouldn’t let her go far, but still she kept on walking. She needed to think. She needed to be alone. And if no one stopped her, she would probably get to Pale Water eventually and wouldn’t that be just what she needed?

She stopped. Could she really escape this way? How far was Woodenbridge from Pale Water? On capra's back it was perhaps three hours, couldn't be much longer on foot. She'd make it before noon and then she'd request asylum from Intan Zheki and his help in getting up to Rosehaw. She'd send her father a message that she was safe. 

Did she want Intan Zheki’s help though? Suddenly, his loyalty toward kadmons made her stomach turn. It was different than that of Sanna Firus. It was authentic, she realized. Not caused by fear, but by thirst for power this pact gave him. The Zhekis had sold the Valley.

But this could be her way to freedom!

This new mindset Priya now had made her head spin. She stood on the small clearing unable to decide, when a loud sound of someone clearing their throat caught her attention. She turned, startled, then, at another sound, looked up. A lone figure sat on a tall rock rising some four or five meters above the meadow, and he smiled knowingly. Tenney. He patted the spot next to him.

“You’ll have to go round back, that way.” He pointed.

Reluctantly, Priya followed Tenney’s directions. The choice was made for her again, and she didn’t have the strength to fight it. When she climbed up next to him, she gasped in awe. The view from here was spectacular. They were above the treetops, so she could see the Valley all the way from the south to the north. The sun was just below the mountain range, no blinding light yet. It was bright enough though to see the rooftops of Woodenbridge, fields of grain and cabbage, leaning toward the river and the white shoals and shallows near the other bank, north from the bridge.

“Sit down,” Tenney invited, reminding Priya of his presence.

"You hiding here, or what?" she joked. Her lips smiled but her stomach twisted in knots. He was going to question her, then give her reprimand at best, or call Shawn and let him have his way with her at worst, if her answers didn’t please him.

But he didn’t ask about anything. He shrugged his hunched shoulders in a way that made Priya think she was actually right about him wanting to hide, then he nodded slowly. "Sort of," he said.

She folded her skirt and plopped next to him, rested her arms on her tucked-up knees. Then she gave him a once-over. He looked tired, dark circles under his eyes stood out against pale skin, strands of dark, almost straight hair escaped from the bun on his nape.

Why did he ask her to join him up here, if he wasn’t going to interrogate her? Or lecture her.

“It’s lovely here,” she said just to break the silence, but he didn’t respond and they sat like this for a few more heartbeats, just taking in the sights, the river below, greenery rising on the other shore, all the way toward the foothills and up the tall slopes. Their dark crags stood out against the glaring sky.

“I wanted to have a moment alone.” Tenney’s low voice startled her. For a blink she caught him staring at his palms, but the moment he noticed her movement, he responded by rising his eyes to meet hers and schooling his features. “Needed to quieten my thoughts, meditate.” His face was open, inviting, lips parted in a soft smile, dark eyes sparkling, attentive.

“Talk to the Maiden?” Priya played along. She knew this was all an act on his part, but as long as he talked, he would reveal things about himself to her.

Like the fact that he didn’t answer her question, instead he looked away, scratched the side of his nose, sighed bracing himself. When he turned back toward her he had full control again, the smile, the sparkle, but now she noticed that the muscles around his eyes were tense and his breathing quickened.

“Where were you going?” he asked and Priya didn’t manage to contain her reaction. “Were you thinking to escape?” He had waited her out, let her think she had higher ground, and when she lowered her guard, he pushed.

But she could deflect that too.

“Did the Maiden tell you that?” she mocked.

She still hadn’t crossed that line to fully believing he was able to communicate with a spiritual being and questioning it was the best way to ruffle his feathers. She had seen him in its grasp after all. While faith, that the holy spirit of the river cared about the matters of the mortals enough to try to reach them, was not hers yet, it had made her wonder.

“What is it like?” she asked, genuinely curious, before he could answer her previous question.

He watched her for a moment, studying her expression, then blinked and broke eye-contact.

“It’s not easy to explain,” he begun, then paused. “What she’s trying to communicate, it’s rarely obvious. She speaks in metaphors, memories that somehow relate to future events. Sometimes, the vision itself is just a sense that something is about to happen. Something good or, more often, something dangerous, threatening. I know I have to be vigilant, so do my people and as it gets closer, the moment from the vision, I begin to remember it more clearly, recognize it even. That’s about it.”

He met her eyes again. He seemed sincere, albeit smug and presumptuous. Like his status of Crystal Maiden’s Champion made him better than the rest of the world.

It was not all there was, though. Priya could recognize a well-rehearsed answer, when she heard one. The answer he’d given dozens of people before her. And it was not what she was after. She had observed that vision back at the stream and it had been in stark contrast with the calm way he talked about it now. He had been anguished and afraid and he’d completely lost control. And he’d been in pain, the kind of pain he had been unable to hide from people around him. After, he and Ryan and that other man, Chuck, had stayed behind and only joined the rest of the band late in the evening.

Was that what he was hiding? That those visions weren't as pure and unblemished as he led his people to believe? The benevolent gesture of a holy figure? 

“Does it hurt?” she asked point blank. “When you receive this message from Crystal Maiden. Does it cause you pain?”

Tenney's shoulders moved up to his ears, almost as if they had a mind of their own, making his hunch more pronounced. He pushed against it, tried to sit straighter and didn’t quite manage the pose he aimed for. The minute grimace of his lower lip, that Priya would have missed if she wasn't watching him so intently, betrayed his discomfort, maybe some ache.

He opened his mouth, breathed in, then closed it. Changed his mind.

“Did you try to escape?” he repeated his question, point blank as well.

A truth for a truth? Was that what he wanted?

“Would it surprise you if I did?” she not-answered.

He took it as a confirmation.

“Yes, it hurts,” he confirmed too. "It is a part of this blessing; I do not question it. Hard to expect otherwise when a spiritual being tries to communicate with a mere mortal. A mortal can never truly contain her essence. But it's worth it, any amount of pain would be worth the honor." 

Priya lowered her face, suddenly unable to look into his eyes. She was being too nosy, it was unbecoming.

“You know what she told me just now? Well, shortly after we’d arrived here.”

“What?”

“To let you go.”

“To let me?--”

“Yes. Apparently, I should set you free. Don’t aske me why. She doesn’t really give me any reasons for what she demands of me.”

Priya shook her head, taken aback. “And you don’t question it?”

Tenney looked at her like she voiced some blasphemy. And in his mind, she probably did.

But instead of berating her, he said, “We should get back to the others. We’re about to have guests.”

.#

Thank you for reading. :)

Tagging (for Seven Sentence Sunday, because it's Sunday ;) @echo-bleu , @hithelleth , @vernyhore , @doughnuts-5ever , @drippingmoon , @radioactivepigeons as well as @my-dress-is-on-fire and @thewildballyntynesgrow for next week, of course. No pressure, as always.

[echo-bleu]

Eva Roemer

[echo-bleu]

Pride Dragons on Parade: Aroace and Polyamory Pride

The fifth and final of our posts highlighting the ten adorable pride flag dragons created by Florilège and featured in Duck Prints Press’s current Pride Dragon Merchandise Kickstarter campaign!

Make sure you check out all our designs: Gilbert Baker and intersex-inclusive progress pride dragons | bisexual and pansexual pride dragons | genderqueer and non-binary pride dragons | demigender and genderfluid pride dragons

Our Kickstarter aims to raise the funds to make stickers, magnets, key chains, lanyards, and washi tape featuring these designs! We’ve already hit our funding goal, so if you back now, you’re guaranteed to get your purchases, and we’re working toward our first stretch goal, which will grant all our backers their chosen dragon(s) as digital files, too!

Check out the campaign before it ends on July 2nd!

(pinging the artist: @echo-bleu )

[echo-bleu]

Happy Birthday, @echo-bleu!!!

[echo-bleu]

Happy Pride Month!

This angel is almost ready for the parade.

Inprnt | Redbubble

[echo-bleu]

Pride Dragons Merchandise Kickstarter: Back NOW!

Our Kickstarter campaign to make stickers, magnets, key chains, earrings, washi tape, and lanyards out of ten adorable Pride-flag-themed dragons by Florilège has launched!

These precious, playful, cat-like dragons are in the colors of the polyamorous pride flag, the genderfluid pride flag, the bisexual pride flag, the Gilbert Baker pride flag, the intersex-inclusive progress pride flag, the pansexual pride flag, the demigender pride flag, the genderqueer pride flag, the aroace pride flag, and the non-binary pride flag! You can get one of them or get them all, mix-and-match our merchandise options, and customize your order – or, if you love them all, you can get full sets of merch, flag sets featuring different merch with the same flag, or even get one of everything we’re offering (and get a discount when you do, of course)!

We’re aiming to raise $2,900 between now and July 2nd. I hope you’ll give us a hand by helping spread the word or by becoming backer!

HAPPY PRIDE!

(artist: @echo-bleu )

[echo-bleu]

Orphan's Lament (gouache) It rained on our little smoke tree. I named this painting for the Robbie Basho song!

This will be my postcard print for June. Join my postcard club on Patreon if you'd like this mini print in the mail - link in my pinned post!!

[echo-bleu]

Pride Dragons on Parade: Demigender and Genderfluid

There are only seven days left to become a backer of our Pride Dragons Merchandise Kickstarter Campaign. Today, we focus on two more of our ten Pride flag dragons: the demigender pride dragon and the genderfluid pride dragon. You can learn more about these two adorable designs, and about the other 8 dragons created by Florilège for this campaign and the merchandise we intend to make featuring these cutie-pie dragons, by visiting our campaign page on Kickstarter!

(pinging @echo-bleu, who is the campaign artist!)

[echo-bleu]

(All art used with EXPRESS permission from the artist)

[echo-bleu]

Inkpot Gods

He breaks like light through cracks in canyons, and the light almost seems to trickle down like godly, gold ink into dirty dark inkpots. The inkpot canyon is not wide enough for us both.

If I don’t make it back from where I’ve gone just know I’ve loved you all along

[echo-bleu]

Pride Dragons on Parade: Genderqueer and Non-Binary!

Very excited to share that this morning, our Kickstarter campaign to fund making stickers, earrings, magnets, key chains, washi tape, and a lanyard out of ten adorable Pride-flag-themed dragons by the artist Florilège hit our minimum funding goal! We also announced our first stretch goal, to provide our backers with the dragon(s) they’ve bought as digital files. The campaign runs now through July 2nd, and we’d love your help spreading the word, or for you to join us as a backer!

Visit our Kickstarter campaign page today to learn more!

art by @echo-bleu