Three Witches

"Three Witches", an exercice to get that « old masters » vibe (which I'll definitely try to achieve better in the future, with proper real life references for the folds).
I did a lot of research regarding the costumes, accessories and such to get accurate 17th century era clothing and other elements.
That was quite fun, though there might be slight inconsistencies regarding the geographical areas where the different costumes were worn as it was not always specified in my reference sources.

I am a big botany and mycology nerd so it also was the perfect excuse to paint some pretty cool poisonous European plants and fungi that were part of the witches pharmacopoeia around that time (plus they all can bloom / grow at the same time of the year).

For the ones who’d be interested in which botanical and fungal ingredients she carries, there are:
- Aconitum napellus (monkshood)
- Hyoscyamus niger (henbane)
- Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade)
- Digitalis purpurea (foxglove)
- Conium maculatum (poison hemlock)
- Amanita phalloides (death cap)
- Amanita muscaria (fly agaric)
Plus some more in the background

Jacob sheep weren't supposed to be widespread in Europe before the 18th century, however they were already present in England by the middle of the 17th century so I decided to depict that fascinating polycerate breed of sheep instead of the traditional goat, as they have such incredibly cool looking horns :)

This is about 40h of work including the painting and search for historical sources / references (original size is around 8k)