In which my ambition knows no bounds

[bunn]

And I attempt to paint in the style of Claude Lorrain:


This is Cirdan and Lalwen in Hithlum. Because if there's one thing better than an obscure Tolkien character in an obscure Tolkien location, it's TWO of them!!!

The hot weather is over and although the sun is shining, the shadows are long, blue and starting to look just a little autumnal, and it's much more pleasant out now.  I did a longish walk with Rosie this morning, down to Latchley and all around the lanes.  The squirrels seem to have had most of the hazelnuts now, but it is an excellent blackberry-picking year, and I keep meaning to take a tub out with me so I can bring some home rather than just scrobbling them from the hedgerows and eating them there and then.  I may even get my act together and pick some rowan berries, for rowan jelly, too.

Went over and visited my mother, who is... well, sort of resting, anyway, and looks much better.  Pudding the cat has gone from reluctantly friendly (which happened briefly while my Mum was in hospital) back to WHO THE HELL ARE YOU.  Mum is still taking 'old ladies' to the shops in her car and working at the charity shop.  But she did cancel a long drive up to North Devon to meet a friend for lunch and opted to take it easy instead, which I suppose is good.

Comments

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

In which my ambition knows no bounds...

LOL.

But that is fabulous. I love the light.

Glad to hear your mum is feeling better / taking it easy (sort of).

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I stole the light because I liked it too! :-D

[ylla.livejournal.com]

On Monday I am going to hear a man talking about Tolkien art. I have no idea what kind of art, for what, but I wanted to go to something! :-)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Tolkien's own art, or people making art showing his world, I wonder? It sounds interesting either way!

[ylla.livejournal.com]

Book illustrations for complicated new books? https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/alan-lee-12008

But you have expanded my mind greatly when it come to Middle Earth, so I'm willing to give anything a go ;)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Alan Lee! Well, he is definitely a Big Name in this small world!

[hhimring]

Unusually good weather for Hithlum, possibly? I'm glad those two are getting to enjoy it together!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I decided the Sun must have shone sometimes, even in misty Hithlum!

[sally_maria]

It's a lovely picture.

I'm glad to hear your mother much better and has been persuaded to take it a little easier - I have similar problems with mine, and it really is remarkably difficult to stop them making themselves worse sometimes.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Mine seems to be doing well now - a great relief!

[songblaze.livejournal.com]

The light and the sky are delightful. The building is a very fine effort. Her figure is good and in general the proportions are very nice, except that her feet themselves are rather tall (which is a hard thing to get right, and one I've noticed you have issues with sometimes - feet are surprisingly short vertically!). An issue that showed up on him, though: I think you have an issue with making your knees and hips agree about which way a leg (and/or a person) is facing, which I've noticed in other pieces - do you have a good artist's figure model? The ones by Body-kun are probably the best mid-priced ones (about $40-45). As I recall, they have the hips jointed properly so you can see how they move better. You often have figures where the hips, shoulders, and knees don't agree on which way the figure is facing, without showing twisting (like turning at the waist, which would make the shoulders and hips not face the same direction). When I was drawing figures, I found that quite hard to get right without a model, which did help a lot.

The lower parts of the mountains are very nice, but I think you left a little too much of a gap between the uppermost ones and the next ones down. Not by a lot, but just enough that it doesn't quite look like a single vista. Your shrubs/trees are very nicely done, though I think you may have smoothed your hillsides just a hair too much.

Something is slightly off about the lighting of the stairs/pathway, but I can't quite figure out exactly what.

All told, I think it's one of your better efforts that I've seen. That sky with the sun starting to set through the clouds is really lovely.

(as always, please do let me know if you don't want a critique on your art - it's habit for me, but I can definitely stop!)