Where the Wolves Keep Vigil
A baroque queen of contradictions lounges in her opulent garden, a cigarillo poised between her fingers like a scepter. Sunlight fractures through the canopy, gilding her brocade gown and the sinuous forms of her wolf companions—their amber eyes sharp, their loyalty feral. The scene thrums with chiaroscuro drama: velvety shadows cling to crumbling statues and overgrown roses, while her smoke curls into spectral shapes above, a transient crown. Here, refinement and wilderness collide—the wolves, both guardians and incarnations of her untamed spirit, circle her throne-like chair as if it were an altar. Is she a patroness of the arcane, a ruler of forgotten realms, or a phantom of her own making? Rendered in hyperrealistic oils, this piece reimagines baroque grandeur through a lens of dark enchantment, where every petal, paw, and plume of smoke whispers of power veiled in elegance.