“But there was in Thranduil’s heart a still deeper shadow. He had seen the horror of Mordor and could not forget it. If ever he looked south its memory dimmed the light of the Sun.”
JRR Tolkien, Unfinished Tales
The Elvenking in Winter (book version)
Acrylics, pure silver leaf, and 22k gold leaf on paper; 21×29 cms.
Prints etc. available here.
Work in progress:
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Monday 5, March, 2018
https://bohemianweasel.com/2018/03/05/thranduil-in-winter/
Brought to life with a little animated light and the influences of creation and destruction.
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Thursday 27, July, 2017
https://bohemianweasel.com/2017/07/27/feanor-spirit-of-fire/
Father and son (one of them) with the border design I made especially for Elf portraits
(you can see it being made here.)
Fëanor whose name meant ‘spirit of fire’.
“Curufin the crafty … who was of perilous mood.”
Both from JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion.
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Saturday 10, September, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/09/10/feanor-and-curufin/
Thingol, King of the Grey Elves, from JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion.
“In Beleriand, King Thingol upon his throne was as the lords of the Maiar whose power is at rest,
whose joy is as an air that they breathe in all their days,
whose thought flows in a tide untroubled from the heights to the deeps.”
Thingol throned in his grand and secret underground kingdom The pillars were said to be sculpted like great beech trees, with golden lamps hung from all their branches.
In the frame, either side of him are symbols based on those for Melian (his wife) and Luthien (his daughter), and above him his doom: the ‘Nauglamir’ necklace with a Silmaril in the middle.
He can also ornament your own underground lair, with pretty printed things from my RedBubble shop here.
Thingol (work in progress)
Thingol (detail)
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Friday 9, September, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/09/09/thingol/
Eöl the Dark Elf from JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion.:
“But Eöl, though stooped by his smithwork, was no Dwarf, but a tall Elf of a high kin of the Teleri, noble though grim of face; and his eyes could see deep into shadows and dark places.”
If you’d like a print of his glowering suspicion, you can find them in all sizes and finishes here.
This glowering gentleman was painted in a different way (for me): sketched entirely in paint, no line drawing at all until the end for details.
An interesting exercise, though riddled with mistakes and horror and doom. :)
Eöl (detail)
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Friday 26, August, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/08/26/eol-the-dark-elf/
20×30 cms, pencils and acrylics.
“Curufin the crafty … who was of perilous mood.”
From JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion
Sketch of Curufin, favourite son of Fëanor (who made the Silmarils and started lots of trouble), and father of Celebrimbor (who made the Elven rings and ended in lots of trouble).
Called ‘the Crafty’ – possibly because he was good with his hands, possibly because he was a devious git.
Also tried to shoot Luthien, twice.
Fëanor had many gifts, apparently parenting wasn’t one of them.
And the un-coloured sketch:
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Friday 19, August, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/08/19/curufin-sketch/
Drawing test for a larger drawing of the same character: Fëanor from JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion. The face that burned a thousand ships.
Prints and pretty things available here.
And the animated version, with firelight:
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Monday 6, June, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/06/06/feanor-colour-study/
An experiment in pencil-less sketching, where instead of drawing lines and then painting, the whole thing is sketched in paint with brushes, no pencils involved until at the end for details. It’s an interesting exercise to create something just using colour, shape, and brush-stroke.
The character is an experiment too, as I’m trying to get a clearer idea of how Tolkien’s (book) elves should look.
This particular gent is/will be Eöl the dark elf from the Silmarillion.
Painting in the basic figure using a broad brush and big strokes.
Still just painted at this stage, no drawn lines. Using armour references from both Ancient Greece and early European Medieval (circa 13th c.) And also spikes.
Now the drawing stage begins to bring out the details, starting with his face.
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Tuesday 17, May, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/05/17/eol-the-dark-elf-work-in-progress/
A Dark Lord’s Progress :
Friend / pupil/ follower / servant to Melkor.
Teacher / manipulator / traitor / torturer / murderer of Celebrimbor.
Prisoner / most trusted advisor to Ar-Pharazôn.
‘A Dark Lord’s Progress’ Sauron triptych
To know more of the stories these are illustrating, or more about the artworks themselves, please see their individual pages:
Sauron as Annatar, and Celebrimbor
Inspired by The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien.
Created especially for the Tolkien art exhibition: ‘Evil in the Shining Light’, Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, through September 2015.
Acrylics on paper, digital colouring, 11.5 x 8″ Frame element by Stephen Clulow on Flickr.
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Friday 4, March, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/03/04/sauron-triptych/
Bohemian Weasel 