Alban Eilir and Alban Elfed {art}

[altocello]

In which I drew the two Queens of Camelot: Gwen is Goddess of Spring, who brings the promise of light and new life, and Morgana is the other side of her coin as Goddess of Autumn, who reaps the final harvest, deals the mortal wound to the King of Light, and brings the balance back in favor of the dark.

This is a continuation of a theme I started with Alban Arthan and Alban Helfin, in which I have pulled very heavily from the Druidic traditions. Alban Eilir, or "The Light of the Earth" (spring equinox), represents waking of the earth as the days finally become longer than the nights, and Alban Elfed, or "The Light of the Water" (autumnal equinox), represents the final harvest of the year, as the nights become longer than the days. You can learn more about Druidic traditions and festivals here.



Also on
AO3 | Tumblr | DW (coming soon!)

The other half of the OT4 (Alban Arthan and Alban Helfin) can be found in lots of places too:

AO3 | Tumblr | DW | LJ

Many thanks are due to rocknvaughn, cheerleader extraordinaire, for helping me refine the ideas behind this, and to jelazakazone, amphigoury, k_nightfox, and everyone in the mibbit #gsd_fandom chat for all the encouragement; you guys all rock! <3

Find more lovely Lady Inspired works at the multi-fandom Half a Moon festival, which is running from 1 Feb to 14 Feb.

Thank you for looking! Comments are adored!

Disclaimer: These are non-profit fanworks; no harm intended, no money made.

Comments

[kitty_fic]

Oh how cool! I love that you did one with Morgana/Gwen to match the Arthur/Merlin <3

[altocello.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Kitty! I literally woke up in the middle of the night, with my muse prodding me and saying, "You know, there's another half of that OT4 and the equinoxes to represent..." LOL!

[alby-mangroves.livejournal.com]

Beautiful, Cello! Love the colours x

[altocello.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much, Alby! I agonized over the colors a lot. Like. A LOT. I was totally going to go with different ones and changed horses at the 11th hour, lol. <333

[alby-mangroves.livejournal.com]

Well, they're PERFECT X

[altocello.livejournal.com]

ILU <333

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

OMG you totally changed the colors and I LOVE IT. This is an awesome complement to the Arthur/Merlin one. Well done lady! <3 <3

[altocello.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Jela! <333

I did! Your worry about the colors niggled at me overnight, so I asked rocknvaughn what she thought, and I'd be crazy to ignore either of you, much less both at the same time. :D So we talked about it and I had the brainwave about that lovely light blue dress we see in s2 (I think, it might have been s3), and then I realized that my favorite color (burnt sienna) would be just about opposite that on the color wheel, and some tweaking later, VOILA!

And YAY! I love it too! After I put it in there, I realized that it mirrors Morgana's eyes just about perfectly. Which was TOTALLY INTENTIONAL *looks sincere and fails*. Yeah, it was a happy accident. It did occur to me that I had gone back to my favorite complimentary pairing of orange/blue, but there is a reason I use it so much, lol!

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Hah. I didn't mean to be a pest, but I'm also glad that I wasn't alone.

So interesting that the final colors are opposites on the color wheel. That's just awesome! See, your subconscious just needed a little nudge. <3 I do love the final colors. Perfection!

[altocello.livejournal.com]

You absolutely were NOT a pest, and I would be foolish to not give you any heed, especially after asking your opinion, lol. And when Rockn also came up with similar thoughts, it was doubly a sign that I needed to consider changing my tack. FWIW I was going for a complimentary color scheme with the previous colors too, yellow & purple, but it was simply not reading well. I love the final colors too! So, THANK YOU for expressing your opinion to me! <333

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

<3 <3 *awesome* I am glad you feel supported and encouraged by me. <3

[altocello.livejournal.com]

ALWAYS <333

[rocknvaughn.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, this is just spectacular in its final incarnation. :)

Your OT4 set is really wonderful! <3

[altocello.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Rockn, and thank you again for all your help with visualization and color choices and cheerleading me! <3

[asya-ana.livejournal.com]

This is really pretty and iconic. <3

[altocello.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, Asya! <3

[leviathans-moon.livejournal.com]

This looks amazing cello*-*

I love all the contrasts. It looks really harmonious but also fierce.

[altocello.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much, Mooney! I love that you picked up on the fierce overtones; to me, both of them are fierce, especially in defense of things they love <3

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

These are gorgeous. I love the drawings and the colour palette. Morgana and Gwen balance one another beautifully.

[altocello.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I really wanted to emphasize the balance aspect, since they're each other's opposite <3

[quixotic-crush.livejournal.com]

Beautiful :)

[altocello.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! <33

[thalialunacy.livejournal.com]

:swoons some more:

[altocello.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Thalia! <333 (I'm going to need a swooning couch in my blog!)

[thalialunacy.livejournal.com]

Hell yeah you do. your art brings all the swoony fans to your yard. ;)