'She is the fox spirit of serentity and beauty. Carrying a lantern that proclaims "peace," she glides along in the wakes of rains and storms, bringing calming silence. Upon her robe, she bears the white of purity, straight stalks of green, the incipience of blooms, dew-covered roses after the rain, and those same roses enshrouded in night. Sound is wasted on her. Names are wasted on her. She is the precusor of merciful death.' (I wrote this description on a whim.)

Yeah...well, without really intending it at first, I made her robes show the progression from start to finish of blooming roses. If you can get past the labyrinth of detail, you can see as the robes layer outward, the roses transition from closed up buds to ones in full bloom. The ones on the outermost robe has dew drops collected on it (like after a pleasant rainfall), and the ones on the sash are roses seen at nighttime.

Another nifty thing about this is the lantern. The big character you see among my crappy chicken scratch I call
Chinese characters means 'tranquility' or "peace." The words behind them are form a famous Chinese poem in the Tang dynasty (from 300 Selected Tang poems). The author was Du Mu.

These are the Chinese words and their English translations, all taken from [link] because it's hard translating/interpreting poetry into English period, let alone CHINESE poetry (sorry, my Chinese sucks so look at Wikipedia please).

清明時節雨紛紛 / 清明时节雨纷纷 / qīng míng shí jié yǔ fēn fēn
路上行人欲斷魂 / 路上行人欲断魂 / lù shàng xíng rén yù duàn hún
借問酒家何處有 / 借问酒家何处有 / jiè wèn jiǔ jiā hé chù yǒu
牧童遙指杏花村 / 牧童遥指杏花村 / mù tóng yáo zhǐ xìng huā cūn
English translation
A drizzling rain falls like tears on the Mourning Day;
The mourner's heart is breaking on his way.
Where can a hostel be found to drown his sadness?
A cowherd points to Xing Hua village in the distance.
[link]

Qing ming jie is an Asian holiday that takes place near the beginning of April (the fifth of April, I believe). On this day, people visit their deceased ancestors. They go to the cemetaries and sweep the graves, put flowers, food and incense on them, and burn paper money (and whatever else). Sometimes there's a light rainfall, as expected for the month of April. A poem about this holiday is fitting for this fox spirit, huh? After the rain falls in the spring and when she meanders the damp landscape, she guides whatever lost souls that got caught in the rain, taking them to a better place.

Now, I know that usually hydrangeas and rain are frequently paired together in Japanese culture (and my fox is very Japanese), but I sort of ignored that minutia for a minute there, and I put roses instead...whatever, bear with me. So, on that note, I was wondering if there were any legends concerning rain and hydrangeas that I missed, or is it just a seasonal phenomenon that people observe the hydrangea's changing colors during/after a rainy period?

Wow, it's amazing what crud I can stitch together when I draw from stress (final exams, ick; I'm glad they're over with right now). Phew! Now, I'm not quite sure what to do with this picture? Should I ink it? Color it with colored pencils or on PS? Render it in black and white? *scratches head* Any suggestions? (I wonder if people are still reading this long ass comment by now...hmm...-.- I'd be impressed if you guys are.)