Original 8×10” watercolor painting on hot press watercolor paper. Originally created for Folio Society’s 2025 Illustration Award, illustrating the Brothers Grimm’s “Rapunzel.”

After the Prince falls from the tower and escapes through briars, he wanders the wilderness until finally reuniting with Rapunzel and their twins. I imagine them living happily ever after in the wilds, his armor rusted and overgrown as it guards their garden. New life grows from old: animals and birds make homes in rusted plate, briars grow through a battered visor, and numerous species of rampion (rapunzel) grow over greaves. The armor roots into the land as the family learns to grow with the wilderness, sustained and uplifted by what once imprisoned them.

The armor is based on a set of 16th c. German armor by Kunz Lochner, with subtle narrative engravings throughout.

Sealed, ready to frame (with bleed), and signed on the recto and verso.
Watercolor, 8×10”, 2025.