Gate in the Wild

Lush underbrush surrounded by dense forest gives way to a gateway made of gnarled trees. Concentric rings of color spiral in toward the gate's center.

Lore

The Gate in the Wild is a mystical doorway located on a forested hill in the Path of Redemption, near the forested western border of the Evenelen Barrens. The “gate” is an arch-shaped pair of tree trunks, through which a light kaleidoscopic effect has been magically overlaid as though gazing into a sunny pool. When looked through, the scenery behind the gate becomes warped and begins to flow; colors drift, faces and eyes begin to appear and whisper, and a feeling of supernatural calm washes over the viewer, beckoning them to walk through.

Atlas of Central Fao, Songstress Forest—South: Path of Redemption

Origins & Techniques

Inspiration. You know, if I’m honest, I just wanted to make something pretty! A lot of my work has some concrete inspiration, but this was really a result of just loving the mountains and wanting to make something that felt sufficiently resplendent.

Technique. I made this piece using a mixture of painting and photographic techniques from multiple sources. The most important source was an image I took in the North Carolina mountains at the top of a hill which had an overhanging tree. I took that and painted it into the shape of a doorway, layering in some psychedelic linework and brush strokes while trying to keep it (mostly) photo-realistic.