Members' Art, Prose and Poetry

Iolanthe · Post by **Iolanthe** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 8:30 pm

It's very quiet here so I'm going to post a work-in-progress. I've been mentally wrestling with the Entwives ever since Fangorn asked me if I'd paint an ent. I've finally put pencil tp paper to try and sketch out what Fimbrethil might look like:

Fimbrethil

Of course this is when Treebeard last saw her, bent, with hair like straw and cheeks red like apples (or rather they will be when it's in colour). It's quite hard to do an Entwife and make them look female and still like trees (so the face and shoulders aren't awfully treelike). Plus - if you make them very barky they look too masculine, if you make them smooth they look rather, well, naked. This is a compromise where there is a peeling bark effect all over her body that makes her look clothed. It could change - I don't think I'm quite there yet - but I like this drawing as it is and the expression on her face, even if the final painting ends up looking rather different!

What do you all think female ents look like?????

Riv Res · Post by **Riv Res** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 8:49 pm

I think she's lovely, Iolanthe! Making a female Ent is not easy and you have captured her well!!

marbretherese · Post by **marbretherese** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 3:46 pm

I think the peeling bark effect is a great idea, and I love the little bird perched in her "hair"! Fangorn's going to be so pleased . . . I'm looking forward to the colour version!

Just a thought: are you going to do an accompanying picture of Treebeard at any point?

Merry · Post by **Merry** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 11:37 pm

I never thought about the challenges in portraying an entwife, Iolanthe, but I think her 'dress' turned out very well. I also like her ornaments--the bird and her uprooted bouquet! There's something about her face, though, that looks a little masculine to me, but maybe the color version will take care of that. I would think that it might be hard to portray femininity with Ent-y colors, though--can't very well rouge up her cheeks, or can you? My river birches, with their light peeling bark, sometimes get a little rosy in places. (Do you have river birches in England?)

Iolanthe · Post by **Iolanthe** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:58 am

The colour in her cheeks will be difficult against a tree colour and it's something I'm still wrestling with. I'm not sure whether to do a birchy grey or a pale brown - definitely not green. But you are right, some birch trees have a rosy colour where the bark is peeled back.

Her bouquet is her gardening and transplanting, and I like the fact it also looks like a bouquet - something I hadn't thought about!

I tried several feminine looking faces but she looked too young and un-ent like, more like a woman than a tree where you want everything to be longish. Plus she is a very great age. But I'm still drawing her and since posting I now have several more versions of her head. One looks very disturbingly like my late Great Aunt Glad.

It's very tricky, which is why, I think, there are hardly any Entwife pictures out there!!!!

Merry · Post by **Merry** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 3:34 pm

I remember seeing only one, although I can't remember where or by whom--of course, I can't remember anything useful

. But she had a necklace of some kind of seed pods. I imagine the artist was struggling, also, with signs of femininity.

I'm sure Aunt Glad would be honored

.

Lindariel · Post by **Lindariel** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 8:42 pm

Ooooh Io, I think she is just lovely, too! I like the rounded contours in her face, which provide for me just the right touch of femininity. Also, her "dress" of peeled bark gives her a hint of feminine shapeliness -- not so much that she doesn't still look very treeish, but just enough to give her a definite feeling of gender. Can't WAIT to see what happens when you begin experimenting with color!

And the little bird is just DEAR! Perhaps the bird could have a little nest that might give Fimbrethil a "hat"?

Iolanthe · Post by **Iolanthe** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 5:12 pm

I'm really glad you like it! I spent most of last night sketching Entwives

. It's even harder when you try to do them in profile.... but I'll stick with this view for the painting with a few small changes to the head. Maybe I'll scan and post the other Entwife heads later, just for fun.

I have a vision of the Treebeard painting I want to do too that I've had rolling around my head for at least 6 months. Now I'm getting an idea of what I think Entwives look like, maybe Treebeard will (finally) follow.

marbretherese · Post by **marbretherese** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 5:17 pm

By painting Treebeard as well as Fimbrethil (two paintings, eventually, no pressure

) you'll firmly establish your own vision of Ents - which from what I've seen so far is one of the best! It's absolutely fitting that Fimbrethil should be depicted as a grand old lady - to my mind a young Entwife wouldn't do at all, not for Treebeard at any rate!

Philipa · Post by **Philipa** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:15 pm

I echo what everyone has said. I just love how you take on images which no one else seems to tackle. It rounds out my vision of Me and it's creatures.

Iolanthe · Post by **Iolanthe** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:12 pm

I'm getting a clearer and clearer picture of Ents now and I think I might finally have Treebeard's face. I'll have a chance in a couple of days to do some scanning

.

Riv Res · Post by **Riv Res** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 7:17 pm

Can't wait!!!! $\:D/$

Riv Res · Post by **Riv Res** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 8:59 pm

While we are waiting for Sue's Ent...

No one had a more attentive audience than old Ham Gamgee, commonly known as the Gaffer. He held forth at The Ivy Bush, a small inn on the Bywater road; and he spoke with some authority...

The Ivy Bush

Philipa · Post by **Philipa** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 10:05 pm

I love the perspectives of this building. It is quite 3 dimensional. So well done Riv.

Merry · Post by **Merry** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:05 pm

I love it! As always, your signature strengths are the coloring and the flora, although the little fauna looks quite comfortable here! The peeks of brick and the frame are wonderful details, too.

(I just learned, from a PBS travel show, that 'turquoise' literally means 'color of the Turks'--of course, it makes perfect sense now! That color of blue was so prevalent in Turkey that the French coined the term.)

I also like the way this fills the frame.