It started in July 2007 when I commissioned from artisticentropy a piece of art for aseneth for Christmas. All I wanted was a scene from Epithalalium of the moment Harry and Severus meet in the Orrery/Room of Requirement right before the wedding (you know, after I tortured them for 250-or-so-thousand words). *G* Here's the excerpt:

Harry thought he'd never seen a more wonderful sight than the exhausted face of his beloved coming towards him, escorted by Poppy.  His heart, pounding wildly, tightened in profound relief as he devoured every detail of his appearance.  With obvious stiffness, Severus slowly approached, and when they met in the middle, their arms rose involuntarily, hands sliding comfortingly under the sleeves of their formal robes.  The almost painful pressure of their fingers tightly grasping the forearms of the other somehow made this moment more real.  They allowed themselves only this simple gesture, both knowing that to do more, to show just how overjoyed they were to be back together, would involve bare skin and complete privacy.

Standing close, Harry held Severus' tired gaze.  With their touch his healer's senses told him his lover still hurt; he suppressed the urgent desire to make him well and concentrated instead on conveying his full heart with his eyes and through their bonds, sending his love and concern.  Severus replied back with his own that he understood Harry's restraint and that this internal loving was enough for the moment, that if he were to do more, he wasn't quite certain he would be able to stop.  So they greedily took what comfort they could; the blood pulsing beneath warm skin under their restless hands and the feelings in which they wrapped each other became a steady reminder that they were finally together, soon to be never parted.  With a reluctant, mutual squeeze, they separated, standing side by side facing north...

...When Harry and Severus were ready, their reunion as complete as he knew they would allow themselves, Albus called the guests to their places, his back to Severus and Harry.  Everyone else stepped forward onto the enchanted circle, Poppy joining them in the centre, smiling when she faced her two friends.  With a word of command from Dumbledore, the room disappeared.  They were suspended in the Orrery, the sunburst taking its place in the middle as the sun, the stars dancing around them.  The planets, frozen in the arrangement foretelling their bond on this night, floated around them, their orbits forming circles outside of circles off into the distance.  While the other guests simply thought this was part of the rather elaborate décor, only the four of them in the centre knew where they really were.

Simple, ya? *Snort*

Five months and 124 Photoshop layers later (of which 29 were discarded during the editing process, 95 are visible, 26 are "background", 21 are "foreground", 8 are the frame, and the rest comprise the figures), artisticentropy made this wonderful piece of art:



However, this small, humble picture doesn't even begin to show the love and detail the talented artisticentropy put into it, so clickie on the picture to see a half-size of the image. Yep, half-size. Although the photoshop file almost reached 700MB, the final drawing at 300 dpi and 3360x4480 came to a bit over 9mb, which is a bit more bandwidth than I own. But here's some detail shots, some at full resolution, some at half:

Detail--Faces, Half-Size
Detail--Harry's Face, Full Size
Detail--Severus' Face, Full Size
Detail--Their Hands, Full Size

A few more stats for those who might be interested:
The majority of the detail and line work was done with a 3 pixel wide brush.  Over 20 custom brushes were used to create the background and textile effects.  All but a few of the star/sparklie brushes were made specifically for this project.

So, go over to artisticentropy's page and tell her how lovely and wonderful it is!

And Aseneth...? Happy Christmas. Your caring support this past year is beyond any humble words this poor author is capable of creating. ♥

© 2007 Artisticentropy. As this artwork belongs to Aseneth, please do not copy nor distribute without her permission. Also, please don't 'hotlink' to any of the views. You are more than welcome to mention this post in your journal, though. Thanks!