Yuttmur & the jumpvils (1983)

“Poyly and Gren flung themselves flat beside their captive and waited. The terrible silences of the forest came in again like a tide all round them, and it was safe once more. Their captive was almost speechless. She pouted and tossed her head in answer to Poyly’s questions. They elicited from her only the fact that she went by the name of Yattmur. Gren was moved by her beauty…

All the rest of the herd parted, ran on, and disappeared. The three jumpvils that had been captured stood submissively in vegetable defeat.”

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The third in a number of watercolor illustrations for the Brian Aldiss science fiction novel “Hothouse” and my favorite.

I was able to capture the woman’s beauty with a few strokes of a watercolor brush. A rare achievement.