Middle-earth Journeys

Wow is right! Amazing what you can do with just black and white.

I have been thinking about Tolkien and dragons. He seems to have a very boyish fascination with them, but his dragons are definitely not cute. He describes their devastation in very real terms.

Glad you like it . Yup - definitely a painting coming from that at some point. It's going to be quite a challenge to do it in colour!

I've always been fascinated by dragons, just like Tolkien. Terrifying! Glaurung is an incredible creation and the monsters in The Fall of Gondolin are just as scary. He describes Tuor leading his wife Idril and the survivors through the ruins and seeing the glaring hot eye of a dragon rising up before them through the mist and steam (created by the Lord of the Balrogs falling into a pool). What an imagination he had! Tolkien did come up with a less scary dragon in the hilarious and wily Chrysophylax. Between them I think Tolkien created the best dragons ever!

Iolanthe, I love the dragon as well! He is eye popping. I am eager to see him in full living color. One of my favorite of all times pieces is your first dragon that you have in the gallery. He is brilliant!!!

Yes, we definitely need a colour version please Iolanthe! incidentally, I can't find the dragon painting Riv refers to in Iolanthe's gallery at the moment, nor can I see Fingolfin crossing the Helcaraxe, which was in a similar style, and one of my favourites . . . . ?

I removed them yesterday because they are so out of step with what I now do. They jarred me everytime I looked at them, though I must admit that the Glaurung in the caves of Nargothrond was pretty terrifying!

For those of you that like being scared out of your wits, here it is again:

Glaurung in the caves of Nargothrond

© Iolanthe

(I've put him back in the gallery )

LOL...I never knew you took him out!


He is magnificent in his rage!!

Iolanthe wrote: They jarred me everytime I looked at them

On that basis you might as well delete most of my gallery entries LOL . . . I'm glad you've reinstated Glaurung. Still mourning the absence of Fingolfin, however. There's nothing wrong with showing your experiments - at least, that's what you said to me!

I almost feel guilty enough to put Fingolfin back in. I'm happy with the picture as a picture, really, it's the style and format . It's off on some artistic tangent of it's own...

In The House Of Tom Bombadill

Ladies, this one was a long time coming. I made a horrendous mess of the first attempt and had to start from the beginning again.

...They were in a long low room, with the light of lamps swinging from the beams of the roof; and on the table of dark polished wood stood many candles, tall and yellow, burning brightly.

...About her feet in wide vessels of green and brown earthenware, white water-lilies were floating...

...There was a fire in the wide hearth before them, and it was burning with a sweet smell, as if it were built of apple-wood.

© Rabbit Ridge Art™

Oh my goodness this is lovely. I love the border colors too. You've not used dark colored borders before and it seems to bring out the scene within. This is lovely!

Oh this is lovely, Riv! How fresh and homey it is! I LOVE the colors!

I'm ready to move in! I agree with the others: the colors are wonderful. And I love all the things hanging from the ceiling--I've been wondering for a few months if I could make myself a chandelier with real candles and living ivy!

Anyway, I love this series, RR. Will they be in a calendar for next year?

I'm ready to move in too. I could live there very happily! I love the fresh blues and greens of the furnishings against the warmer walls. Very much Tom and Goldberry's home . The border colour really sets it all off.

This is shaping up as a wonderful series Riv!

Thanks for all the comments ladies. Yes. I like the effect of the darker border as well. It does seem to set things off nicely.

Yes Merry, these are the beginnings of the artwork for next year's calendar.





Since the experiment with the dark border worked so well on this latest piece, I am thinking to re-do/add some darker color to this border to see if it brings out the muted color here as well.

The pictures look terrific side by side! And yes, I can see where adding some dark border to Buckleberry Ferry would enhance it--maybe pick up some of the browns from the wood in the picture?