It’s been raining non-stop ALL day, a rather depressing
business, but at least by working my eyes blind in the watery gloom, I
managed to finish my new Tolkien illustration, starring the stunningly
beautiful Paul Boche as Gildor Inglorion.
Gildor plays only a small part in the book and none at all in the movie (bah!), but he is the first elf that you encounter in the ‘real’ story, and not even meeting La Grande Dame Galadriel in the heart of the Golden Wood packs anywhere near as much magic as Gildor appearing out of the blue dusk in the homely woods of the Shire (chasing off a snuffling Black Rider in the process, I might add, so there!).
When Gildor and his companions take the hobbits on their
nightly walk into the forest and a late banquet, “Sam walked along at Frodo’s
side, as if in a dream, with an expression on his face half of fear and half of
astonished joy… Pippin afterwards recalled little of either food or drink, for
his mind was filled with the light upon the elf-faces, and the sound of voices
so various and so beautiful that he felt in a waking dream…”
I always loved this, and hope I have captured some of the
magic… The background is very freely copied from an ivy-overgrown tree in the
forest just outside my garden. The moths are Smerinthus ocellatus, the eyed
hawk-moth, a good totem I think for a far-wandering nocturnal elf.
“Elen sila lumen omentielvo” is the High Elven line that
Frodo speaks to Gildor, “A star shines on the hour of our meeting.”
With many thanks to Paul Boche for allowing me to use his picture(s) (three different photos went into this... he has a a challenging face!).
Faber Castell Graphite Pure, from B to 9B
(it was COLD at my table these last couple of days)
In other news, I'll be posting book related stuff tomorrow :)
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