The Secret

By now, I've experimented enough with Photoshop to feel really really comfortable with layers. This is the first one I've done where I've really included scenery. I haven't really done anything like that in awhile, but I am remembering how much I used to like painting landscapes. I used to be totally addicted to Bob Ross's painting show, and went on a landscape kick for awhile back in my school days.

This scene I wanted to feel rather ambiguous.... as if what is at the other end of that path behind the fog is both a wonderland and an entrapment. The idea for the foggy woods was inspired by the scene in Big Fish where Edward Bloom chooses to take the road less traveled, winds up in a dark, foggy woods, and finds the Afterlife on the other side. I wanted these woods to feel similar. The woman's identity is unknown. All I know is she knows the answers to all your questions, said answers lie behind her beyond the fog, and perhaps she'll tell them to the traveler looking on. Whether or not this will be a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen and is up to the viewer to decide. The floating lantern next to the forest spirit is meant to represent the Light of Truth. The door to the lantern is open to convey her invitation to share this truth with the viewer.

As far as stock photo reference goes, the figure is modeled after ~auralis-stock. I did use a photo as the basis for the forest as well, but I honestly can't remember where it came from it's been on my computer so long, so if you recognize it as coming from someone around these parts, or as coming from stock belonging to one of you, let me know so I can give proper credit. Otherwise, it's more than possible it came from one of the many stock photo sites I visit from time to time.