Lonely Mountain

I have been trying to get the right concept for a piece depicting the Lonely Mountain from The Hobbit. It is a little tough to do when you consider that Tolkien had his Lonely Mountain sort of sitting out in the wild by itself (hence the name). The characters in the story knew the treasure and the dragon lay within, and there was always imminent danger although it lay smoldering. Here I try to depict the beauty and the danger within ... if you could take a slice out of the mountain to reveal it's secrets.

Lonely Mountain

Tolkien Society

Sent the latest three pieces to the Tolkien Society for consideration in the next edition of their Mallorn. I figure I will have reached the big time if anything I create ever makes the cover. They seemed to like the latest three ... so am hopeful that they will appear in the next issue somewhere.

New Piece: The Hall of Fire

It took me a while to get the colors right on this piece as well as the overall design. I must admit that when I first read The Hobbit and learned about Rivendell, my initial visualization was more like the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. Being from the American west, it was the first idea that came to mind.

But then along came Peter Jackson (and John Howe and Alan Lee) and the whole concept of Rivendell changed for me. It became far more ethereal under their combined influence, and to be honest, it is pretty ... but not quite as I would imagine it.

After this overload of Rivendell visions, I struggled coming up with a design for my favorite place in Rivendell ... The Hall of Fire. Visitors and Elves gathered there in the evenings for song and story telling and I thought that it was important to not only portray the pillars that Tolkien mentions, but also come up with a place for those activities to happen which is why the floor contains a seating in the round. My bow to the ethereal  comes with the canopy of stars overhead and my homage to the original Old Faithful vision was to make the pillars come from nature and the wooden tree trunks.

Many (most) of the colors used (another marker and ink medium piece) were 'washed' with several other colors until I had what I wanted. Here then is The Hall of Fire.

Getting Started

Well ... here goes nothin'. I have been thinking about putting a blog at Rabbit Ridge Art (RRA) for quite some time but I am not someone given to small talk and thought it would be a waste. From other artistic friends, however, I am beginning to see the light and the benefits of open brainstorming and jotting down thoughts on artistic subject matter and mediums and technique. So ... now I'm afraid you're stuck with me for better or worse.

Yesterday I re-worked the Home Page at RRA for 2011. Actually got all of my work to this date categorized and up for sale and streamlined the HP assortment and visual look with a couple of new (less busy) graphics. Still need to delete those items (cards, stationery, and posters) that I will no longer produce or sell. That shouldn't take long. Take a look and see what you think ... https://www.rabbitridgeart.com/

Am working on a new series based on Tolkien's The Hobbit. Am finding it a little tougher to get inspired than I always am with his The Lord of the Rings. Am hoping to get 12 pieces done for a 2012 Middle-earth calendar. LOL ... we'll see. Here's a sample to start. Medium is marker and ink ...


Middle-earth

Am thoroughly enjoying the surreal form format done with the french curve forms. Above is titled simply Middle-earth, and below, here is Smaug ...


Smaug

Will add them to RRA with a teaser that they will be available soon.

First blog done ... more to come. :-)