Middle-earth Journeys

Not hives. 'Skepps' or something like that . . .

Edited to add: Of course, I can't leave something like this alone! A 'skep' is an artificial hive woven of straw. I think they're beautiful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skep

Merry wrote:On another note, Riv Res, I found another garden scene for you, if you're interested:

It was spring, and a fair one with mild weathers and a bright sun, before Bilbo and Gandalf took their leave at last of Beorn, and though he longed for home, Bilbo left with regret, for the flowers of the gardens of Beorn were in springtime no less marvellous than in high summer.

You could fill them with bees and those round bee houses--what are they called?

PERFECT!!! I am inspired!!

Wonderful piece yet again, marbretherese!

I think the most intriguing thing about the progression of your work is the way you let the watercolor medium flow and become, on it's own volition, the heart of your piece, You don't appear to persuade or force the technique to do what you want, but rather let the medium create the values and forms for you. I am envious!

I'm glad you like the Théoden painting - it took ages as I only did a few minutes here and there, so I'm still very close to it, and find it difficult to judge. It is a complex composition - for me - and at times I thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew I am pleased with the overall effect, though

Iolanthe wrote:The way you've mixed the watercolour has given just the right texture to the stone pillars as it separates. Did you use cobalt blue in that grey?

The whole thing has been done using just three colours: cad yellow, ultramarine and vermilion - the pillars are painted in a mixture of the red and blue over a yellow wash - giving a purple-grey. I took Tolkien's description of the throne & hall from the passage where Pippin and Gandalf first meet Denethor.

Merry wrote:I'm not an expert in studying the effects of light and shadow in a compostion, but it all seems to work.

Thanks - I'm no expert either. So it was a useful exercise - and thank goodness I remembered (quite late on) that there would be shadows on the floor!!

Riv Res wrote: You don't appear to persuade or force the technique to do what you want, but rather let the medium create the values and forms for you.

Well, I start with an idea - and in this case a basic drawing - then I see what happens. It does get a bit scary sometimes but it's always interesting!

Just three colours? Amazing . You're really mastered the mixing and layering!

Riv - that's a good summation of what I'm also starting to envy in marbreterese's technique too . Very fluid.

So.... is this going to be an Oxonmoot exhibit entry?

Iolanthe wrote:So.... is this going to be an Oxonmoot exhibit entry?

I really don't know. I have no idea what to take along!!

I do! I've been trying to 'up' my game and also tackle Tom Bombadil. I've never seen an illustration of him that really satisfied me or caught him the way I see him. I loved Garland's picture of him collecting the waterlillies that we saw at the exhibition, but it was more about the whole picture than Tom himself. In the book he's somehow more than life-like, which is hard to capture in a picture which is, by definition, less than life-like .

So... I've painted Tom looking at the hobbits through the Ring - which I think is a wonderful image in the book - that moment when they see his blue eye gazing at them through the circle as though the Ring was nothing. I've also put the autumn leaves on his head, which replace his hat a few pages before. I like to think he's still wearing them!

Positively BRILLIANT Iolanthe!

I love this, Iolanthe, and I'm sure the Oxenmoot delegates will too. The colours you've used are lovely - the autumn leaves really set off the rest of the painting and I like the touch of blue behind his fingers, which brings out the colour of his eyes. It's fab!

Me, too--I love it! I'm starting to appreciate how much thought is an important part of art. The 'larger than life' aspect is so real because of how you made Tom bigger than the frame. And it's the perfect moment in the story to capture. Perfect mouth, too: a bit of a smirk that says, quess what? I'm bigger than this ring.

I've been thinking today of how much joy I've gotten through the art that the three of you have shared. Really!

Thank you - I glad you all like it so much. I'd hate to fail with Tom Bombadil. Everytime I read LotR that whole chapter grips me more.

Well spotted with the blue between the fingers, marbretherese. I didn't think anyone would notice that! And your comment about why I made him bigger than the frame is right, Merry. I wanted him to have a very immediate and strong impact, the way he does on the Hobbits, as though he really has popped up in front of us in the flesh, filling everything the way he fills that part of the book. In the original painting he is pretty much life-size. That should get the Oxonmooters staring .

I think I'll tackle Goldberry and her waterlillies next. It would be good to have a pair!

I really think that all of us painters here have moved on in leaps and bounds from our first postings. We are all settling into styles that really work for us, all moving forward technically, all getting more and more of a feel for painting Middle-earth. Although I've always painted, visualising Tolkien on paper was new when I started this thread.

I think it's astonishing what we've all achieved here, I really do.

Iolanthe wrote: I really think that all of us painters here have moved on in leaps and bounds from our first postings. We are all settling into styles that really work for us, all moving forward technically, all getting more and more of a feel for painting Middle-earth . . . I think it's astonishing what we've all achieved here, I really do.

I agree. It's wonderful to see everyone's styles, techniques and ideas evolving (I have loads of ideas but need my technique to catch up a bit first ). I recently read Diana Glyer's The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community, which contains a lot of interesting ideas about the various ways members of creative communities influence each other both directly and indirectly, and I don't think any of us would have evolved quite the same way without the input from fellow artists and other members here on MEJ. So thanks, everyone!!

Iolanthe - having seen Tom I'm now extremely keen to see Goldberry . . .!!

Been off to a conference for a few days and WOW what treats I find when I return! Marbretherese, the painting of Theoden lying in state is wonderfully evocative, and to think you accomplished this using only three colors is mind-boggling.

Iolanthe, I just LOVE your depiction of Tom peering through the Ring. He really emerges from the paper (or computer screen, in my case), and his good nature and . . . Otherness . . . is so completely apparent. Can't wait to see what you do with Goldberry!

I'm really glad the 'Otherness' comes through. I tried very, very hard to capture that but thought it was only in my head .

marbretherese wrote:I don't think any of us would have evolved quite the same way without the input from fellow artists and other members here on MEJ. So thanks, everyone!!

Hear hear! I think so too .

I have the Goldberry design all sketched out and Im going for Tom's first sight of her in the river. Like all my paintings it popped into my head nearly complete. Wierd, but that's the way it works.... I mull over an idea for a bit and then it pops up from nowhere. If it doesn't there's no point in me even trying a subject. Marbretherese knows the agonies we all go through waiting for the poster designs for our G&S shows to 'pop' into my head .

'Otherness' is a great word in this context, Lindariel.

You can see, I guess, why artists have talked about catching their Muse. I have this experience when trying to write something creative, too. I've been giving a few talks at schools and churches--one of them tonight!--on Tolkien and Lewis and some ethical topics, and sometimes I do just have to wait for inspiration. Of course, deadlines seem to attract the Muse pretty well!