It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door…You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.
Wow! Fantastic ! It really is a rainbow curtain. I love the way you've let the colours run across each other into ever subtler shades so they blend like they do in a real rainbow. Hoorah for watercolour, you can get such interesting effects from it. And the figures are much more confident - the most confident you've done. This is another favourite moment in the book that's great to see illustrated.
How many colours did you use for this one? I hope this is one for Oxonmoot! And perhaps that Open Studio....
Now let the song begin! Let us sing together
Of sun, stars, moon and mist, rain and cloudy weather...
thanks! I'm really pleased with this one - the original is much more vivid than this photo (even though I've adjusted it). It's definitely going to Oxenmoot and probably into my Open Studio as well - I see it as a companion piece to Forbidden Pool.
I've wanted to paint Henneth Annûn for ages - I looked at the idea around the same time as I did Forbidden Pool, but couldn't work out how to portray the rainbow/water effect. Once I sorted that out it was relatively straightforward. I've used five colours throughout.
Much of it evolved from the "let's try it and see what happens" school of watercolour. For a while I had the whole thing sitting in my studio (boxroom) without the figures in it. As soon as I added them in the whole thing came to life . . . I'd already painted the light effect on the floor before deciding where the figures were going (or even which characters I was going to include). Once I'd put them in I discovered that their shadows were already on the floor. How wierd is that?
"Torment in the dark was the danger that I feared, and it did not hold me back.
But I would not have come, had I known the danger of light and joy."
I suppose that watercolor is the perfect medium for a waterfall! I like the watery effects very much, marbretherese, and I agree that the figures are some of your best. Great choice!
Sing and be glad, all ye children of the West,
for your King shall come again,
and he shall dwell among you
all the days of your life.
I feel SO smug. I have a print of that very painting on my office wall -- along with four others by our very talented Iolanthe.
Congratulations!
Ahem . . . now when can I get my mits on prints of the Tolkien paintings you haven't posted to the Marketplace yet? I'm particularly anxious to acquire the "Telperion" print.
Lindariel
“Therefore I say: Eä! Let these things Be! And I will send forth into the Void the Flame Imperishable, and it shall be at the heart of the World, and the World shall Be.”
Congratulations! It's wonderful, including the matching Amon Hen title!
I'm looking at this through a different computer screen (visiting with my sister in St. Louis) and I'm shocked at how different the art on this page looks in comparison with my little laptop. If I have time, I'm going to look at everything in the gallery again to enjoy them all more!
Sing and be glad, all ye children of the West,
for your King shall come again,
and he shall dwell among you
all the days of your life.
Every screen is different Merry! When I get something just right on mine I know nobody else sees it like that .
Lindariel - I'm slowly getting there with my own website and the Telperion painting will be one of those on offer. It's not been easy putting it all together!
Back to the cover, for some reason Andrew has filled the title box in with a weird grey that has interference spots on it. I think he cloned it from the trees taking some of the variations in the paint with it. If only he'd asked me I could have done a much better job! Hey ho.
Now let the song begin! Let us sing together
Of sun, stars, moon and mist, rain and cloudy weather...
I did wonder about that grey behind the title (Editors do like to meddle don't they!). But on the whole I think it's reproduced very well - congratulations!!
"Torment in the dark was the danger that I feared, and it did not hold me back.
But I would not have come, had I known the danger of light and joy."
At least it's all original - there's a snitty letter in this edition from someone complaining about people doing illustrations from Peter Jackson's films and specifically naming two artists in Bulletin 211 (the edition I had the Gandalf drawing in). They didn't like the Gollum cover or the drawing of Boromir and Galadriel inside.
Thank goodness they didn't think my Gandalf was Ian McKellan. I can see their point but not everyone can make it up without a strong visual reference and it's all art and done with love. The artists involved will feel really miserable when they read that and it might prevent them submitting again. Expect some sparky letters in Bulletin 213!
I've still heard nothing back from the guy who edits Mallorn and I need to know whether I can offer the paintings I showed him to Amon Hen. Must tackle him and find out!
Now let the song begin! Let us sing together
Of sun, stars, moon and mist, rain and cloudy weather...
I think I need to scan in the drawings I did as a boy... I'm no great artist, mind you, but I was considered rather talented for a boy. I have the Nazgûl, Gandalf, Aragorn, several pictures of Barad-dûr, other places...
Tracking the sun in his galleon and travelling the skies
'Til his splendour was shorn by the birth of morn and he died with the dawn in his eyes
). Maybe that is what inspires the scene.
! It really is a rainbow curtain. I love the way you've let the colours run across each other into ever subtler shades so they blend like they do in a real rainbow. Hoorah for watercolour, you can get such interesting effects from it. And the figures are much more confident - the most confident you've done. This is another favourite moment in the book that's great to see illustrated. 
.
I have the Nazgûl, Gandalf, Aragorn, several pictures of Barad-dûr, other places...
The play on color is amazing. Again you let the medium lead your effort. Very, very nice indeed. Bravo!
