This is the ORIGINAL of “A Dryad Listens”. She was created on mixed media Paper with an intricate layer inking technique that involved meticulous planning a nd a sensitivity to details and shrouds of hatching and cross hatching.

About the Subject:
A Dryad is a Nymph or Minor Goddess who is connected or bonded to a tree. The Greeks held a wondrous belief that there is such a Goddess for every Tree. Sadly any harm done to a tree- afflicted it's aligned Nymph as well. Indeed the the fates of Nymphs tend to yield a cautionary tale in Greek Mythology. As beautiful as they are they are often meant to meet trying fates with lecherous Gods. To me the metaphor is not unlike the fates of trees and forests.
It is not a stretch to imagine a Dryad listening to her tree and they may share a sorrow.
O but would they not have some laughs as well? Perhaps there was the time of a few children having a luncheon together beneath the leafy canopy or the time a pair of lovers kissed for the first time, or the time a bird made a new nest in the west bough and was now feeding new hatchlings?
She was made with the dipping fountain pen and I spent hours planning the touching scene, the tilt of her head, the direction best to cast her eyes, her searching hand with pencil sketches and erasers until the Tree's story began at last to whisper...

and please keep in mind the frame is not included…