Jenny Dolfen

...And a ridiculously tiny Aredhel to go with it.

The photo is about twice as large as the painting... argh, I see every flaw now XD

Rididulously small Gondolin in progress

Welcome, new Patreon Frasoke! =D

Working on this piece and hope to finish it today. It's a lot less different things to paint than on the Tolkien one - which is just as good, as this one is half the size! 

Suggestions welcome for the next ones! The ringbearers will need a larger and more elaborate one than I want to do just know; just single characters stuffed with... tacos. :) 

Aredhel silhouette lineart

There's a lot of pun potential again here. Silhourillion? Silmarette? Silhoumarillion? 

I decided to put in Eöl as well. Symbolically, putting him on her breast was not a smart choice, but the composition dictated it. And he doesn't seem to complain. More than usual, I mean. 

And these silhouettes are such fun if you can add the swoosh of long braided hair, which was not much of an option with Tolkien! I'm loving this series of one and a half already. 

My hus...

So, about these silhouette type paintings...

First off: whee, look at the crowd! Welcome, Ylanel, Vivien, and Rebecca! <3 

Secondly... this silhouette thing is something I might get used to. I had this idea to do a series of Tolkien characters "filled" with scenes or just scenery that relates to them. This would be Aredhel. With Gondolin and Nan Elmoth. 

You'll have noticed I never, or rarely, do series. But this one is something I could pull off, as it doesn't ...

A little sketch I forgot to post, and the eternal search for the perfect watercolour-to-go set...

I did this sketch at school last Friday. It was the first sketch with my (tentatively) ultimate do-it-yourself watercolour kit. 

Watercolour to go is something that I love to do, but will only do if everything fits. You'll remember that I have the beautiful little Mini Pal-ette from Stephanie Law. I love that one, but it requires a table. There's just so much you have to put somewhere, and I really longed for something that held all my colours and my palette and a...

The Professor

I made it! Gosh, I'd forgotten what it's like to plough through a piece like this, haha. 

I'm extremely pleased with the result now. Do you know that, during almost every single stroke, there was a little voice at the back of my head that said: "Alan Lee will be there. He'll see this painting. MAKE AN EFFORT, WILL YA!" It was a very useful little voice. 

I apologise to everyone who is still waiting for a reply from me. I was going to paint some 4-6 small-scale ...

Almost there!

1981: Jenny first reads the Hobbit. 

2019: Jenny paints her first hobbit hole. 

There's something seriously wrong with this. 

Teeny tiny little dragon

Welcome to new Patron, Andrea! =D 

The magnifying glass made an outing again. (It always does; can't work without it at all. In this case, it would have been impossible!) 

I love this little spotter brush. It holds a surreal amount of paint and its point is a true miracle. It's like a felt pen that can change its size at will! 

Swirly-whirly texture things.

I want the entire thing to be very busy without actually painting much background or clouds, so welcome the swirls! 

Oooh! I have a "swirly" tag. =D 

Beren and Lúthien progress

Oh my! I had forgotten how slowly I paint when I'm not using a water brush. XD 

Welcome to new Patron, E! Enjoy! :)

First watercolour wash

... on the second piece of paper. Of course. Every time I think I've found the perfect paper, the second piece on that paper just doesn't work at all. This is good ol' Stonehenge again. 

Tolkien t-shirt design, lineart

I'm extremely pleased with how this is turning out. Especially since I'm rushing this so much. My eyes aren't happy, but I'm not asking them. Going to start putting on the first washes of watercolour tonight. (The ones where I don't have to see much detail, haha.)

A lot of you asked about t-shirts. I have been pondering this for a while - I might revamp my business; some of the prints and merch like t-shirts would go to sites like society6 or redbubble. My business is starting to swallo...

T-shirt design! =)

New Patron welcome time! Hi, Alysha, Sarah, and Holly!

I've been asked - a little last-minute - to design a t-shirt for the Birmingham event in August (yes, very last minute!), and the idea I immediately had was this - Tolkien's silhouette, with the most important scenes from his works. I chose Beren and Lúthien, of course (sit down, Feanor, they are more important than you), a dragon attack (could be Gondolin), and the Shire. 

Need to finish this by Thursday. =O

The ...

Faramir finished

I love how the colours turned out in this! I used KWARTScreations watercolours again for this one. Putting Indigo over a light  dry ochre wash in the background was a great choice - it's like far-off firelight shining through. Need to do more with this. 

Welcome to three new Patrons: Lara, Sabine, and Alysha! 

Faramir (sketchbook)

Another one underway in my sketchbook (I recently got a whole shipload of Etchr sketchbooks from their kickstarter and need to fill up my old one, haha). Since we're talking about drawing characters that were ill-treated by the Lord of the Rings movies, Faramir needs to make an appearance. 

A lot of people say the Special Extended version corrects the faults of the cinematic one, but having rewatched it, I disagree. He gets a bunch of daddy issues to explain away the fact that he t...

Gimli finished

I put in another hour of shading, but mainly in his face, hair and upper body, while leaving the legs less detailed. I really like that effect. 

I hope to get around to the new Galadriel prints today or tomorrow (sorry for those who are waiting, especially V.!) It's the final two weeks of term and that means crazy busy all round. And I'm not yet prepared to take my gilding gear to school and use a free quarter hour. :D 

I did use a bit of mica gold paint on him....

Gimli and other sketchbook things

Welcome, Jennifer, Vivienne, and Emily! <3 

I've been rather quiet - I was away on a class trip last weekend, which bound a lot of energy beforehand. My class hasn't been the easiest one these past three years and I was a little apprehensive of how it might go; in the end, the trip made up for a lot of the things of the past few years. 

I tried around with Inktense watercolour in my sketchbook during the trip; they're like blocks of crayons, but with ...

Lady of the Golden Wood - prints (gilded! =D)

Welcome to new patron, Maite! 

I did a bit of additional gilding again today, and can offer five Galadriel prints with mat and gold leaf! :) 

(And my desk is properly golden as well. That stuff just keeps on getting everywhere. It was a bit of luck that Isis was keeping her distance, or she'd have caught some on her whiskers, too.) 

https:...

Lady of the GOLDEN wood, we said.

Now with gold leaf! Gold leaf is one of the things I can no longer do with any precision - I just can't see where I put the glue. But doing it sort of expressionist style works. 

Lancelot (+ characters)

I'm currently listening to "Lancelot" by Giles Kristian - a great historicised version of the Arthurian tales from Lancelot's point of view. I admit I knew nothing about his childhood previously; in the novel, he is brought up in the household of the Lady (of the Lake) in what I'm pretty sure is Saint Michael's Mount off the coast of Cornwall, which we visited two years ago. 

Over the weekend, I drew several characters of the novel. They're so wonderfully well-rounded. I love Krist...

Lady of the Golden Wood

Welcome new Patreons Jackie and Anne! :) 

It was Tolkien Days last weekend, and I took the Galadriel commission with me to finish. <3 

Tolkien Days was a great event again! It gets better every year - so many fun people to talk to, and to talk to in-depth. On the last event I went to, hardly anyone had read the Lord of the Rings, let alone the Silmarillion. Last weekend, it was such fun to see people leafing through my prints: "Oooh, ...

Green shipping! and special offer ending

Welcome, three new Patrons: Ashleigh, Anne, and Beatrice! 

I didn't think I could make my green shipping plans a reality so soon, but thanks to eighty orders over the last five days (!), I'm now out of my previous shipping boxes and have started to use all-green packaging! 

Those padded mailers are absolutely amazing. We all know bubble wrap mailers, and I don't know about you, but I always hated the fact that I can't re...

Look what came in today! ^______________^

Welcome to new Patrons Giselle, and Allana! 

The new batch is here, and they're gorgeous again! My daughter and I have been inspecting, grading, and pinning all day! 

I love how they all turned out. I'm especially pleased with Maglor's golden harp - an unexpected favourite. 

2019-06-06 19:07:54 +0000 UTC View Post

"Lady of the Golden Wood" underway

Welcome to new Patron, R. M.! 

Fun with new papers again. This seems to be the Rolls Royce of papers (judging by what a pad costs), but ooooooh, I love it! Sennelier paper, cold-pressed. Gives you gorgeous textures. And takes ages to dry. Though that might just be the fault of the humidity here. 

I'm going to just brush some gold leaf across the background.. Her veil is going to be fun - I've never tried to paint translucent fabric before! 

Aa...

Galadriel lineart

Five days off work, artbook texts written and images uploaded - now, art! It actually took me a moment to remember where I keep my pencils. (In my defence, I'd recently rearranged my desk.) 

Hope to paint her tomorrow! 

Welcome to new Patron, Inge! ^____^

Wo-hoo!

Artbook, some assembly required. =D

All my work is done until I get the layout back! All the texts are done, all images uploaded. 

The option to be named in the artbook is live! If money's tight at your end, wait until Saturday before updating your pledge. If you update now, you'll be charged again on June 1st. <3 

I'm really, really pleased with the book. It's got a nice selection of images, some sketches, and only half of the lot are Tolkien. Which is good, ...

"Journeys", my new artbook!

Cover not final; I've got a typesetting friend who'll take care of the book design next month, and I'll very much value his input in the cover. :) 

I haven't been idle - my new artbook is well underway, and I'm almost done writing the accompanying texts. It will be much more personal than the last one, but that almost happened of necessity. It was impossible to write anything about stuff I drew/painted from 2016 to now without getting a wee bit personal. 

There will be r...

I think I broke Deutsche Post. *prods it*

I thought I'd finish up the last 46 packages today, and on the last 22, the DP website rolled over on its back and all it has been saying since then was "Technical Error". 

So, depending on how soon it recovers, all packages are going out either today or tomorrow!

Estimated delivery times: 

Germany: You should have them or get them very soon!
EU/norther Europe: Already arriving - give it up to two or three weeks. Especially Spain and Greece can be troubleshoorte...

Shipping spree! ... and going green

Two new patrons! Welcome, Anna and Bonnie!

Here are seventy-four packaged pins! Everyone in Germany and in the EU, your pins are going out tomorrow.  💛 💚 💙 

(It took me five months, but I finally realised I can buy EU postage in bulk from the Deutsche Post website... just in time!!)

96 packages are left. I hope to fix them all up by Thursday at the very latest.  

These packages you see up there are really stu...

All's well that ends well!

Just quickly before I hop off to school - the pins arrived at 8 AM this morning, and YES, they're beautiful! I'm so glad it finally worked out. I'll start packing as soon as I'm home this afternoon. Thank you so much for all the patience you had to muster, everyone - give me seven to ten more days before I can get them all shipped! 

Aaand welcome to new Patron, Christina! ^____^