Artist Ophelia Ray Lester's 6ft Edinburgh drawing goes on display at Central Library
The intricate black-and-white illustration, which took over 3,500 hours to complete, brings together Edinburgh's history, folklore and mythology, and will be on display at Edinburgh Central Library from October to December.
A detailed drawing of Edinburgh which took more than 3,500 hours to complete is set to go on display at Edinburgh Central Library this autumn.
Artist Ophelia Ray Lester, 30, from Oxfordshire, spent nine months working for more than 12 hours a day on the intricate black-and-white illustration, which brings together Edinburgh's history, folklore and mythology.
The self-taught artist, who has no formal training, has been drawing professionally for just over a year.
The huge drawing began as a much smaller sketch created as a memento of a road trip to Orkney with her partner.
However, the project quickly grew in scale, becoming a 6ft by 3ft, hyper-detailed ink drawing of Edinburgh, packed with historical, supernatural and mythical references.
The artist features the city’s Old Town and underground spaces alongside figures and stories drawn from Scottish folklore.
Among the details hidden within the piece, which Ophelia says is ‘best viewed with a magnifying glass,’ are Mary King’s Close, plague pits, the Mercat Cross and Edinburgh’s witch trials.
It also features the likes of unicorns, fairies, a plague doctor and even the devil depicted as a goat.
Ophelia also revealed she painstakingly researched the historical details, with the spines of books shown in the artwork representing genuine publications from the 17th century.
She said: “It was never meant to be that, but it did just get really out of hand and then I ended up quitting my job and just being like, I have to finish this.
“I just had this feeling that I could use it to launch a serious art career and if that’s what I wanted to do with my life, I had to just trust the process.”
After completing the piece, Ophelia reached out to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the National Galleries of Scotland to see if they would be interested in displaying it.
While she was told they do not display contemporary or modern artworks, they put her in touch with Edinburgh Central Library, where the piece will now be exhibited.
Ophelia explained she hopes to eventually see the artwork displayed in a prestigious gallery one day.
Her work is heavily influenced by gothic Art Nouveau artists including Aubrey Beardsley, Kay Nielsen and Harry Clarke.
The Edinburgh Piece will form part of an exhibition at Central Library starting on the first week of October to December, alongside other works inspired by Scottish Folklore.
As Halloween approaches, visitors will be able to discover many darker and more mysterious elements hidden within the drawing.
Ophelia hopes the artwork will inspire a sense of wonder among visitors.
“I would love for anyone to just come and see it and get that feeling, that sense of, ‘oh, magic is still real’ kind of thing,” she said.