Tehanu Table of Contents illustration - Earthsea

Charles Vess is one of those artists whose work always captures the gestalt of the story. One of his more recent projects was to illustrate The Earthsea cycle by Ursula K. LeGuin. I read the original trilogy when I was in high school, and the later novels when they were published, and it is one of the stories I cannot live without. Unfortunately I missed the boat when the project was underway, and had been looking for something from the book. This image of Tehanu, the subject of the fourth book in the series, and Tenar, who is one of the cornerstones of the entire cycle, is absolutely perfect. Pen, ink and wash on paper. 6 x 11.