Princess of the Lake — By Allison Yale

Finding the right model for a project can be hard. I remember how much the searching frustrated my father at times. I also remember him telling me that sometimes the universe smiles on you and it is like magic. Like sometimes what you are looking for finds you before you even knew you were looking for it. That is the origin of this painting.

Me and my dad were in Eureka Springs, Ar poking around in an antique store, just having a nice day, minding our own business. We noticed a couple come into the shop and start browsing near us. Nothing too much stood out about them. I did notice that the woman in the couple had a cute short pixie kind of haircut. I had been considering cutting my hair the same way so it had caught my eye. While I mused over her hair she turned and I saw her face. I thought to myself “Wow, she is really beautiful. There is something unique about her, but what is it?” I think my dad looked up and caught that too, but we didn’t say anything to each other and continued to do our own browsing.

Then it happened. She reached for the chainmail headdress and put it on. I guess we had both been drawn to her and had been subconsciously taking little peeks at her because we both saw it. Without a word or looking at each other we both threw out our elbows and tried to nudge one another while we nodded with our heads in her direction. We were both mesmerized. She was stunning. It was like the chainmail was hers, always had been and always will be. I was very much into medieval history at the time and felt like I was looking at Joan of Arc or something. I couldn’t explain what was happening, but something was definitely happening. I like to think we managed not to expose our gawking, but maybe not because before we knew it she had taken the chainmail headdress off and they were walking out the door. For the first time since we had started watching her I turned and looked up at my father. He was almost in a trance. His eyes looking into another dimension. I said “Dad?”  I already knew though. His mind was made up. He was going to paint her, from memory if he had to. With his disability there was no way he was going to be able to catch up with them now and I know he didn’t want to frighten them by yelling down the busy street. But I could help! He read in my face instantly that I understood. That I had seen the same thing he saw. That I realized the universe had just smiled.

He smiled and said, “Go get her if you can”. I booked it as fast as I could out of that shop and down the street, racing to catch up with who would become “the princess of the lake”.One of my very favorite works of art from my fathers collection. I can not remember exactly what I had said to convince them to come back and speak with my father, I was just too excited. So from here I will let her tell the rest…….

— Allison Yale