AHHHHH THERE ARE SO MANY MISTAKES! I MY GOODNESS I FEEL SO STUPID FOR NOT FINDING THEM!

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PLEASE DOWNLOAD AND REFER TO THE REST OF THE CLOSE-UP IMAGES IN MY GALLERY FOR BETTER IMAGES OF EACH CHARACTER IN THIS PIECE. THANKS!

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"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empy, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.... And God saw that it was good."

Designated a daunting task, Gondwana became the Guardian of Earth.

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This is my contest entry for 's contest in which a character of hers must interact with a mythical creature. At least that was what the guidelines said...

So of course, my brain immediately started thinking, why just one mythical beast, why not be more elaborate and blow the contest guidelines out of proportion? *sigh* My brain has a way of making things much more complicated than they need to be.

Here is Gondwana, the horse guardian of the earth who will not die until the earth does. I wanted to portray her birth, and thought that the help of mythical creatures would enhance the scene. And of course, because I am so into elemental things, I decided to represent each of the four elements, which each contribute to the Earth at Her birth.

Of course, the Fenix popped into my mind for fire, and after much searching for a more unique fire-elemental mythical beast, I decided to instead make my fenix original. Hence, the different, untraditional coloration.
"And the fiery, ever-changing Fenix contributed light, and warmth, and fear to the creatures of the Earth."

Next came the Gryffon, another very well-known creature. As I was working on the piece, I learned that gryffons actually represent earth more than air, however, I thought differently, and that is why this creature is still apart of this piece. The snow leopard/snowy owl coloration was supposed to lend to a sense of unification in the color scheme, as well as grace and fragile beauty. (Oh yes, and I don't know why the fenix and gryffon have staffs, just wanted to add them in there.)
"The majestic, untouchable Gryffon lent to the Earth His speed, and grace, and the beauty of the clouds to invoke dreams."

The Hippocamp was another obvious choice for water, and I went with it, choosing to create a sea turtle appearance on the creature. I had a lot of fun with the colors on this.
"She, the elusive Hippocamp, contributed the seas, and all the creatures in them."

Now for the last of the elementals. I was thinking of the movie "Princess Mononoke" and of the forest spirit, and decided that would be an interesting creature to portray earth. However, I wanted to make the creature my own, instead of the amazing deer-like animal in the movie, and Silva Animus was born.
"Silent, protective Silva gave to the Earth His wisdom, and the beauty of plants, and the creatures who fed from them."

The three horses in the background are meant to represent the lesser-thought-of though ever-present element of Time. 's Androzani is supposed to be a foal here, and represents the youth and beginning of time, as well as the only creature of her race to see the beginning of new hope on a new world. The Time Unicorn communicates the vitality and trials of Time at the midpoint. (Oh yes and both of these two are blindfolded to show the blindness of time) 's character, Torius, demonstrates the wisdom at the end of Life, the the all-seeing knowledge of Time in the end.

I had the most trouble deciding on the background. At first I wanted them to be under the tree of knowledge in a grassy field looking into a hole in the ground where the earth was being born. However, I was very unsuccessful with creating a believable field, and then decided to try my hand at a space background, which is completely out of my forte. So here is my overly complicated piece, and I will be uploading close-up versions of all of the characters shortly.

Thank you to for providing the amazing nebula tutorial which helped me make the star cloud. Thank you to for creating the star brushes utilized here. Thank you to for providing some anatomical reference on the fenix. Thank you to for the picture referenced on for the hippocamp, as well as the picture referenced for Torius. Thank you to for the image referenced for the Time Unicorn.

And a monsterous thank you to =HorseRidingGal herself- not only for hosting such an amazing and creativity-evoking contest, but also hanging in there for me. She was always polite and courteous and willing to help whenever I noted her, and never once did I get the sense that she was annoyed with me. I appreciate her compasion and her willingness to extend this contest multiple times. So, I hope this doesn't disappoint and make your toes go crazy again. (ducks in cover from toe-infected-disappointed-woman)

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Oh yes, in case you were wondering, I believe this entire piece took me 168(+) hours- which is the equivalent of one full week of work, non-stop.