Lupines - a peek of what I'm working on (Patreon)

I took a break from posting foxes becasue my queue has run dry, and I can't juggle everything at once, but I thought I'd give you all a glimpse of what I've got going - I'm doing June for Fenris Publishing's SFW calendar! I specifically wanted June because I wanted to illustrate a landscape of the finnish midsummer night celebrations, with a lake view and a bonfire. 

 At midsummer - summer solstice - the sun barely sets at all. The tradition of burning bonfires and staying up all night to admire the shortest night of the year are old pagan traditions, and the modern name Juhannus was a christian attempt to turn it into a christian celebration of John the Baptist, but the celebration itself is mostly about spending time with friends or family. Ideally, you want to get yourself to a lakeside, swim in the natural water and wash yourself in a sauna, cook sausages by the bonfire, and enjoy the beauty of nature. There are plenty of old folk magic rituals that people jokingly do - like gathering seven different types of natural flowers to put under your pillow for the night in order to see your future spouse in a dream - but the key thing people focus on is to eat, drink, and be merry.

While the final illustration will be 100% digital art, I used a collection of photos I have taken myself one midsummer night, in order to get the landscape and ambience just right. And while this is only a snapshot and I'll tone the shading down, you can still see how light it is. The reference photo right next to it was taken between 10 pm and 4 am!