A very belated Star Wars day post here - it turns out that a double portrait takes twice as long! I managed to finish today, so here’s a painting of my favourite Star Wars siblings, done as a companion piece to my portrait “” from earlier this year.
Painted on Procreate in mixed media - mostly oil paints and charcoal on gesso canvas.
Ahiss escaped Leia’s lips, and Luke instantly pulled his ands away, wincing and apologizing. “I told you it was gonna sting,” he offered, voice soft and light as he moved back to working at her blaster wound.
For a second, she looked like she was about to hit him, but the moment passed and she sighed out a soft chuckle. “Yeah… that you did.” She winced again and bit back another hiss as the disinfectant pad passed over the raw skin once again. “Doesn’t make it hurt any less, though - you just about done with that?”
“In the time I’ve known you, I’ve seen you handle much worse. A little bit of disinfectant sting too much for you?” With a mischievous grin, he gave it one last swipe then placed the pad aside. “There, I’d say it’s clean now.”
This time she did actually hit him. “You’re a terrible person, Luke Skywalker, you did that on purpose.”
“Who, me?” He spoke with false shock and did his best to look the very picture of innocence. “Now why would I do that? It needed cleaning, that’s all. It’ll be worse with an infection.”
Leia rolled her eyes. “Classic little brother move.”
“I’m older!”
Neither of them really cared. They were twins. They were the same age. But they both enjoyed the banter. It felt natural, the one thing that had since the galaxy had shifted so radically after the fall of the Empire. They had each other, the two halves of their souls coming together the way they’d always meant to be, and both were grateful for it.
They grinned at each other for a moment, enjoying their repartee, but Leia’s face fell as Luke began to bandage her arm. Letting out a sigh, she scowled at the dressings. “Are the bandages too tight? My hand’s been acting up, I think I need to recalibrate it…”
“No,” she sighed again, “no it’s not that, it’s just - well it’s like you said. I’ve handled so much worse before this. But… I guess it’s just… the fact that I got hurt at all. And - and you didn’t.”
Pausing his task, Luke frowned at Leia. “Is that - C’mon, Leia, there’s no way you’re taking sibling rivalry that seriously already.”
She shook her head. “That’s not it either. It’s more that, well, this is my first mission since you started training me. My first mission with a lightsaber. One that was supposed to be easy, and I fumbled. And for whatever reason, that makes this tiny little wound hurt more than it ever should. That’s what this is about. Pride to an extent, I suppose, but also… fear that I may not be cut out for this.”
Luke stared at her for a moment, blinking several times, before he burst out laughing.
“Wow, Skywalker, you’re really great at this whole comfort thing.”
“Sorry, Leia, I didn’t mean to laugh, but are you forgetting what I was like when I first started training with the Force? I was a disaster. You’re doing so much better than I was at the same point in my training.”
“Yeah, but you taught yourself - ”
“Evenafter I got proper training, I still didn’t know what I was doing.” He kept the smile on his face, but a pang went through him anyways at the thought of Bespin. “It’s normal to be frustrated, or to be afraid you aren’t good enough. We all experience it in our journeys and at several points in our lives. It’s when we let that consume us, though, that we start to run into trouble. You’ll get there, Leia. You will. You just can’t let this one experience stop you.”
Her deep brown eyes bore deep into Luke’s, swirling with dark depths that flashed several emotions at the same time, until finally the corner of her mouth quirked up. “Maybe you’ve got some Jedi Wisdom in you after all. Thanks, Luke. I know all of this, I do, it’s just nice to have the reminder.”
The two shared a silent moment of understanding through their bond, one that was warm and comforting and peaceful, and Luke wished it could never end.
It did, though, when Leia’s expression suddenly grew serious and she stared at Luke through narrowed eyes. “Not a word of this to Han, got it?”
