Valkyrie I II III

These three small works were my submissions to Lessedra's 3rd Painting and Mixed Media Competition in Sofia, Bulgaria - December 14, 2012 to February 15, 2013.

http://www.lessedra.com

Wiki says:

In Norse mythology, a valkyrie (from Old Norse valkyrja "chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who decide which soldiers die in battle and which live. Selecting among half of those who die in battle (the other half go to the goddess Freyja's afterlife field Fólkvangr), the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin. There, the deceased warriors become einherjar (Old Norse "lone fighters"). When the einherjar are not preparing for the events of Ragnarök* the valkyries bear them mead and they eat their fill of the nightly-resurrecting beast Sæhrímnir (this beast is brought back to life again to provide sustenance for the following day). Valkyries also appear as lovers of heroes and other mortals, where they are sometimes described as the daughters of royalty, sometimes accompanied by ravens, and sometimes connected to swans or horses.

* In Norse mythology, Ragnarök (UK /ˈræɡnərɜrk/,[2] US /ˈræɡnərɒk/ or /ˈræɡnərək/[3]) is a series of future events, including a great battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures (including the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water. Afterward, the world will resurface anew and fertile, the surviving and returning gods will meet, and the world will be repopulated by two human survivors. Ragnarök is an important event in the Norse canon, and has been the subject of scholarly discourse and theory.