3 Paintings

[bunn]

I got bored of struggling with painting people and their awkward knees, so I painted:


It was supposed to be a sunrise scene with a limited palette, but it came out rather brown and boring.

Disappointed by this I decided to paint something with strong shapes and colours: the burning of the Swan-Ships at Losgar


And also a portrait of Haleth, leader of the Haladin, in old age (and without knees) which has actually come out quite well.


I couldn't work out what to do with her neckline, so I decided that perhaps there is amber found in the forest of Brethil,  where the river Sirion wears away at the banks.

Comments

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I like Haleth, and especially the burning of the ships.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I think part of my problem with composition is that I tend to try to cram too much into a small canvas. High contrast bold images perhaps easier to get right.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Mm, you may well be right.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I love all your artwork, but these two are especially good. I don't think you follow my blog, but I've been posting photos of swans there and yours are really lifelike.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

... apparently I haven't? I must confess I thought I had and vaguely assumed you must not post often. Clicking through, this is clearly not the case so I have pressed the button again. :-D

I'm glad you think they are the right shape. I remember seeing a real boat in the form of a swan somewhere once, and being disappointed that it looked ungainly and poorly balanced. I'm happier with these, although I'm still wondering how they would look under sail. Maybe that's something to paint next!

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

The Viking Ship Museum in Oslo has specimens that would be good models; you can just add swan-heads to the prows.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

That is a marvellous museum.

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

Nice pictures. In particular, Haleth's eyes are fantastic :-)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Menacing eyes! I am quite pleased with them. I chose a couple of photos of an older lady lifting weights as my reference images, clearly exercise produces an air of steely implacability...

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

The portrait of Haleth is very good. That look of absolute confidence and authority that serious matriarchs have...The Losgar one is good too, like an Art Deco poster.

Have you seen this year's Tolkien Calendar? It has the illustrations of Mary Fairburn, which Tolkien liked, but which never got used in an edition of the book; she re-painted some of them specially for the calendar. They're rather splendid. Only the woodcuts that the Queen of Denmark did are better, in my view.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I haven't! Thanks for the recommendation. I'll look out for Mary Fairburn and possibly even grab a copy of the calendar if I come across one still lurking somewhere.

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

I've just received one that I ordered from Book Depository.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for adding me!

[hhimring]

Haleth is very good. And I like the amber idea--it has the right associations for me.