I have just finished Morgai Thorns, a new oil painting private commission undertaken for an illustrator friend Graig Kreindler who requested one of my Middle-earth themed works. Knowing this painting would be hanging in the home of a fellow artist put a little added pressure on this piece (and check out Graig’s own amazing baseball paintings here!)

The initial inquiry began nearly two years ago and while my schedule can get booked up it usually does not take this long to execute a project. The delay stemmed from the desire to strike upon the right subject matter as I pondered what scenes to consider, and since my client was not in a rush I let the discovery process unfold at a leisurely, stress free pace. I wanted to get this ‘right’ for Graig.

Abstracts and Rough drawings from sketchbook, pages 8″ x 11″

When given broad creative freedom, as my client provided for me here, I love to break from typical genre convention and visualize quiet moments from stories.  I find these ‘domestic’ moments can leverage the subtlety of gesture, environment, and narrative from an intimate story clip and be used to exemplify broader themes implied from a tale. These moments also tend not to be very heavily traveled, if at all, by other artist’s visual interpretations, providing me a chance to ‘own’ the moment and make it my own without preconceived imagery.

Such as the case here.  I could find no other artist whom has tackle this particular moment from the story – it was all mine to play with!

Once I had finally settled upon a few concepts to present to Graig last year, the rest of the process kicked into gear, and painting this work became pure joy!

My daughter Naomi helped model out the hobbits while references from visits to the desert regions of Arizona and Texas flushed out the vegetation and landscapes.

Preliminary Drawing, 24″ x 18″ Watercolor Pencil and Chalk on Toned Paper

In the process of hitting all the detailed notes J.R.R. Tolkien had provided for this episode (hair breeches for Frodo, black cloaks for the two of them, helms, etc) one of the most striking visual discoveries was the ring-mail Frodo was wearing.

While reading through these chapters for decades, it was only through the act of visualizing their garb that I became aware that Frodo ‘wears’ all these rings – a wonderfully symbolic metaphor of him as ‘Lord of the Rings’, bearer of the One Ring, and how he eventually casts off all these rings as they near Mount Doom.

Tolkien is a genius.

Again, it was a pleasure to find the chance and time to spend more hours in Middle-earth, as dark as it may be at times.  May your own journeys carry you into the light.

Prints are available of this image (and many others) through my website:
https://www.donatoarts.com/online-store/secure-store/Morgai-Thorns-p740172443

 

Initial Acrylic Lay-in, 32″ x 24″ panel

 

Oil process, 32″ x 24″ Oil on Panel

 

Morgai Thorns, 32″ x 24″, Oil on Panel, final art

 

Detail, the Tower of Cirith Ungol in background.