Middle-earth Journeys

Wonderful Iolanthe!!

Tell me about your technique for the White Tree.

Gorgeous tree Iolanthe! Boo-boo and all.

Merry wrote: There's something very much alive about it, even in winter.

I agree, Merry!! it's really spontaneous, Iolanthe, and I'm interested that you regard it as a sketch for something more controlled. I think that it works as it is, "flawed" or not!

Well I certainly don't see any "flaws," Iolanthe. This is lovely!

I'm glad you all like it so much! I admit that although it evolved randomly with no plan I'm quite pleased with it . But I can see another larger picture with this being a part of a greater whole. Though when I laid the first washes this morning it was plain I'd gone wrong at the first hurdle. I'll have to start again with take 2.

The boo boo is so monumental that I can't take the picture too seriously. I'll reveal all - if the Gondorian soldier walked from where he is to the tree and stood next to it the tree would be about the size of a sizeable gorse bush . I only realised after I put the figure in (he wasn't part of the original plan). But if the figure was the correct size you'd hardly be able to see him. I guess it's what we call artistic license .

Riv Res wrote:Tell me about your technique for the White Tree.

There's about 6 techniques fighting alongside each other there - wet on wet, wet on dry, dry on dry, masking, gouache overpainting, blotting out, scratching down to the paper, scraping back damp paint, splattering and best of all, salt sprinkling. Um - in fact that's 10 techniques .

Marbretherese is the expert on salt . It's my first go at it and it's a lot of fun. The salt leeches out the paint giving the feathery, snowflakey effect. You need a coarsish salt (I ground it out of my salt mill) and a wash that's nearly dry. If it's too dry nothing happens. If it's too wet nothing happens. Wait until the wash has only a slightly damp sheen left on it, flick on some salt, then walk away and leave it until it's absolutely dry. Rub the salt off and hey presto! Interesting spotty bits .

Iolanthe wrote: Marbretherese is the expert on salt .

I wouldn't say that! I've been shown salt effects and tried them but I haven't had many goes at them since the watercolour course I went on last July . In a way I'm glad to learn that

Iolanthe wrote: There's about 6 techniques fighting alongside each other there - wet on wet, wet on dry, dry on dry, masking, gouache overpainting, blotting out, scratching down to the paper, scraping back damp paint, splattering and best of all, salt sprinkling. Um - in fact that's 10 techniques .

because I'm working on a painting at the moment which went very wrong almost immediately and has involved what you might call remedial scratching out and gouache . . . .

As for the "flaw" - it depends on your interpretation, I suppose. If your tree is near the brow of a hill, for example, and your figure has just climbed that hill, he's not too tall at all - particularly if he's of the race of Numenor

OK - I'll go with that. This is a Tree on a hill and the Numenorean is a very, very tall one. I feel much better!!!!!

I'm a great believer in remedial scratching...

I assumed the Tree was on a hill, to make sense of it all, I guess. I thought it was a neat idea!

Here is the other representation of the White Tree that I was thinking of doing:


Gondor

© Iolanthe

This painting has caused me no end of grief .

I simply LOVE the Elvish on the tree. Wonderful!

I think it's wonderful, too! Again, the clear colors remind me so much of stained glass. What was the source of the grief?

Another Iolanthe print I simply must have! Just marvelous! When will you be putting your new work on the V-W Marketplace? There are several I need to purchase -- Telperion's Children, Gollum, Cirith Ungol, and now Gondor!

I'm glad you like it . The source of grief was just about everything . I couldn't get the colour balance right and kept overpainting - something I hardly ever do - but it got there in the end!

Iolanthe wrote:I couldn't get the colour balance right and kept overpainting - something I hardly ever do - but it got there in the end!

The colours are lovely - you'd never know the painting had given you problems!

Wow that is lovely. I especially like the stark white tree against the multi-colored layering.