Jenny Dolfen

The Noontide of Valinor

First digital sketch (actually, already the third refined one) for a commission for Erin Clark. The Noontide of Valinor, with the two Trees in the centre, and the Aratar around: Left Manwë, Oromë, Mandos, Nienna; right Varda, Aulë, Yavanna, and Ulmo.

We both decided male Valar needed beards. Except Mandos, for some reason. 

Slight changes to your reward tiers!

As I said, I made some changes to your reward tiers. Overall, rewards are less frequent now but bigger (more postcards, goodie packs, more flexibility with commissions, more digital stuff). I've also introduced commission bonuses at lower tiers, because I want to do fewer "scheduled" Patreon commissions in the long run, but still would like to offer you the option of getting them at a special discount. Needless to say, everything you signed up for will remain totally unaffected! :)

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Baldr

Don't think I've been lazy - I have four images/sketches waiting to be shown, but am waiting for the recipients' answers to show them. ;) Here's the first of the "Seeker in the Wilderness" commissions, this one for Starrla - Norse god Baldr, who was shot by his blind brother Hödr with an arrow of mistletoe given to him by, who else, Loki. Cheers! ^___^

Back from holiday!

Well, I'm home - without *any* art. It's weird that I have the patience and motivation to draw when I'm surrounded by thirty teenagers, but not with my hubby and two kids around. The biggest problem was perhaps that it was so cold and wet that sitting anywhere without a woollen blanket just wasn't an option, and that the first youth hostel already wreaked havoc on my back. :/

But well, now I have my comfy art chair and desk back, as well as my house where I can turn the heating on w...

Goodies, holidays, heatwave, and changes, oh my!

All the July goodies are on their way as of today (apart from a few from whom I haven't heard back yet)! It's over forty packages by now, so I hope you'll forgive me that I couldn't add much personal stuff. ;) At the moment, it's just too hot for much art. 38°C yesterday was too much! I'll be on holiday from July 5th to July 13th - Hamburg and a pony farm, XD - and I'll take all my art materials and hope to get a lot of stuff done over those days (such as the commissions for the Wanderer tiers...

5% Coupon code for July/August: PIPPIN79

Raffle draw: July winners!

It's July in every part of the world, so here's the raffle draw for today! 

An A3 Facsimile goes to: Melanie Moore!

And an A4 print each to: Anja Raupach, Troels Forchhammer!

(let me know what you'd like, you three! :) 

A sticker/cards goodie bag each goes to: Robert Kenney, Natalia Borueva, and Floss Gibson!

The o...

June 2015 Patreon supported

Thank you so much for the support this month!

Winter King: Painting leaves

Spoiling you rotten! =D And now clap your hands with that catchy tune, everybody! 

Winter King

Definitely another colour scheme I've never done! Much fun was had with Daniel Smith Ultramarine Turquoise. 

I made a video of painting the leaves - working on that :)

Wip: Winter King

Work in progress for Isabella. What better to do at 30°C outside than paint wintry stuff? ;)

Celebrimbor timelapse vid

Second timelapse vid! 

You'll have noted I set the last video to "all patrons", not just to those of 5$ and up. Originally, the vids were just meant for that level, but now I feel that doesn't make much sense. I think I'll keep it like this. The 5$ level will still get to make suggestions/requests for those vids, however. :)

Celebrimbor

Had a lot of fun with this one - of course, Feanorean fun runs in the family! I went for a lot of fire imagery; even though he denounced his father, he *was* a grandson of Feanor.

Video to come! ^__^ (I'm getting the hang of this!)

Original up on Etsy!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/238111474/celebrimbor-original-painting

Original up on Etsy - with a handsome little mat! http://www.etsy.com/listing/237745693/azaghal-original-painting

Azaghal - First Patreon video! :)

Some fine tuning still to be done, but overall, this works really well. Hope you all like it!

It's set to 4x speed, or it'd have been over an hour long. If you want to see any bit in real time, you can set the Youtube speed to .25, and there you go! 

Azaghal

Coloured version of Azaghal - timelapse video following! =D I managed to find a way to attach my camera to my desk lamp. 

Lineart: Azaghâl

The second of two linearts soon to be painted! Dwarves it is. If the Silmarillion is ever made into a movie (which the Valar may prevent), I want Stellan Skarsgard to play Azaghâl, please. :D

Celebrimbor lineart

One of two linearts for small-scale paintings I did today: Celebrimbor. He turned out a bit like a silent movie star of the nineteen-twenties, which, in hindsight, is just the way it ought to be.

Sketch suggestions wanted!

I'm going to do a couple of little pieces like the Legolas one - some in pencil, some in watercolour, nothing complicated, just little pieces and portraits - that I can sell on Etsy. Fire away! Whom (or what) would you like to see? :)

Jen's Grey

Fun exercise found on the website of Jane Blundell - she made all sorts of watercolour swatches, among them one she calls "Jane's Grey", mixed from Ultramarine and Raw Sienna pigments. It looked so gorgeous I had to try it. Mine looks nothing like hers, so I feel totally entitled to call it "Jen's Grey" henceforth. And I'll use it excessively in the Thranduil piece, and the NIenor one too, I think.

Celeborn

This month's raffle commission for NOLANOS, of Celeborn of Lothlórien! Pencil and white crayon on textured paper.

Quest for Legolas

I seem to have spent 30 years searching for "my" Legolas. I've gone back and forth depicting him since the late eighties - dark hair, light hair, longish hair, short hair, and even one Orlando. I think this may come closest to how I really see the character - with that quirky humour when he advises the Hobbits to dig a hole in Lothlórien to sleep there, and proceeds to swing from a branch.

I think movie-Legolas is just too "First Age Noldor". I always felt Legolas was very differen...

Digital colour scheme for Nienor

Took me ages to find out what I wanted for the colour scheme here. In the end, I decided to go for surreal, watery colours, foreshadowing her death in the waters of Teiglin, with a hint of Orphelia.

Matted prints

http://www.etsy.com/listing/222697843/custom-print-of-my-artwork

Sharing this with you first - I have a bunch of matted prints left from last month's Tolkien convention. They're taking up a lot of space in my art cupboard and I'd love to see them go to caring homes!

You can see them all, and order them, through the "custom print" section in my Etsy shop. Discounts apply, ...

Songs of Sorrow and Hope - preview

Another preview image of my upcoming artbook (you probably saw the one I posted on Facebook earlier)! I'm so excited that this is finally happening. The book will be out around August/September, I hope, and will be over 100 pages, on semigloss paper, coffee table size and paperback, priced at about 20€.

Winter Thranduil - lineart

Lineart for Winter Thranduil! I'm having a lot of fun with this series. Hope to finish him in the none too distant future.

Well, you lovely people, I've packaged all your winnings and such! Look out for the mail in the coming days or weeks (depending how far away you are!) I've got oral exams of my Year Nine next Wednesday - and after that, I can finally breathe again. Or paint again. Which is pretty much the same. I'll work on Nolanos' raffle commission, Nienor, and Erin's Trees then! ^^

Maglor in battle

Patron commission for Isabella. She said that we only ever see Maglor as a sensitive poet and musician, but he was a Feanorean, and she wanted to see that side of him. :)

Nienor - lineart

Managed to get a lot of stuff done on the convention last weekend! Among other things, the lineart for this one. I already love it to death. ^^

Raffle Draw: June!

Here's the raffle draw for this month! Commission - Nolanos Aredhel watercolour – Steven Tryon A3 Facsimile print – Maarten-Michiel A4 print – Pigletale, Masa Goodie bags – Erin Clark, Christina Richtsfeld, Wiltraud Potrawa Congrats to all winners! :D