what Bilbo saw

re-purposed fabric on acrylic medium and canvas

24"X30"

“Such bees! Bilbo had never seen anything like them.

"If one were to sting me," He thought "I should swell up as big as I am!” 

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

re-purposed fabric on acrylic medium and canvas
24"X30"

redemption

“Is everything sad going to come untrue?”
– Sam Gamgee to Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings

“Everything sad is going to come untrue 

and it will somehow be greater for having once been broken and lost.

– Tim Keller, The Reason for God

through the shadows

watercolor

“You can only come to the morning through the shadows.” 

― J.R.R. Tolkien

Sharing at PaintPartyFriday

follow

“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.” 
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

watercolor

“Don't go where I can't follow!” 

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

looking...

watercolor

“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. 
You certainly usually find something,
 if you look, 
but it is not always quite the something you were after.” 

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

The Oliphaunt

watercolor

(by minnemie)

a handwritten note for mother's day
by Devan (8)

The King's Return

watercolor

The King beneath the mountains,

The King of carven stone,

The lord of silver fountains

Shall come into his own!

His crown shall be upholden,

His harp shall be restrung,

His halls shall echo golden

To songs of yore re-sung.

The woods shall wave on mountains

And grass beneath the sun;

His wealth shall flow in fountains

And the rivers golden run.

The streams shall run in gladness,

The lakes shall shine and burn,

All sorrow fail and sadness

At the Mountain-king’s return!

~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

return

watercolor

every turn 

a calculated re-turn 

fibonacci

"I sit beside the fire and think 

Of all that I have seen 

Of meadow flowers and butterflies 

In summers that have been 

Of yellow leaves and gossamer 

In autumns that there were 

With morning mist and silver sun 

And wind upon my hair 

I sit beside the fire and think 

Of how the world will be 

When winter comes without a spring 

That I shall ever see 

For still there are so many things 

That I have never seen 

In every wood in every spring 

There is a different green 

I sit beside the fire and think 

Of people long ago 

And people that will see a world 

That I shall never know 

But all the while I sit and think 

Of times there were before 

I listen for returning feet 

And voices at the door" 

— J.R.R. Tolkien

For Illustration Friday

Topic: Return

growing

watercolor

“The world is indeed full of peril, 

and in it there are many dark places; 

but still there is much that is fair, 

and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief,

 it grows perhaps the greater.”
-Haldir

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

settling down

watercolor and ink
Above all shadows rides the Sun...
~J.R.R. Tolkien
Journey's End