They rose so slowly and they look's so pale 1913

Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale made this illustration, They Rose So Slowly and They Look's So Pale, with watercolor and ink. Looking at the knight and his companion riding into a hazy landscape, I can't help but think about the artist at work in her studio, maybe dreaming of an escape to this very world. I wonder, did she start with the horizon line, then add the figures, or did she build it up in layers, letting the story slowly emerge? You can almost feel the weight of the knight's armor through the dark shading and the slight droop of his horse's head. And look at the way she uses thin washes of color to create the misty, dreamlike atmosphere. Painters are always in dialogue, across time and space. Brickdale was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, but she brought her own sensitivity and vision to the imagery. It's like she's inviting us to fill in the blanks, to imagine the story behind the image, to co-create with her.