This is a painting of a princess who is no longer allowed in the castle across the river where she was born. The three trees mark the boundary that now marks her life...because she chose forbidden love.
For this piece, I used the Venetian technique, where multiple small glazes are used to slowly build up richness and texture. The original bottom layers are much lighter, but the painting became darker as I added more layers. A third of the way through the process, it was a daylight scene, but slowly turned into a nighttime scene where the remnants of the setting sun are just visible over the distant mountain range and the moon floats high above it all.