Treebeard or Fangorn ceramic wall plaque/hanging will be available to purchase shortly. Plus two works in progress, younger Ents.

Treebeard/Fangorn is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. The eldest of the Ents, he rules over the ancient Forest of Fangorn and stands fourteen feet in height and is tree-like in appearance, with leafy hair and a rigid structure. His motto is, "Do not be hasty."

Each work is a one off and combines clay mixed with Andalucian earth sculputed onto wooden board. All Ents are unique, hand made, hand painted, cold glazed, signed and come with a hook attached to the rear ready for hanging.

Two younger Ents works in progress, once finished these will be the last for a while:-

End of day sketch/doodle Orcs of Isengard.

The Orcs of Isengard bore upon their shields a White Hand. 

Treebeard work in progress continued. Will explain the painting process later.

Stage one:- Drybrushing


In drybrushing the idea is to highlight the raised surfaces of the plaque by applying  small amounts of paint to your brush and then dragging the brush across the surface of the texture. Use only small amounts of paint on your brush (use old brushes because they take a beating) as this this will only leave paint on the top of the texture. Work from dark to light colours gradually allowing each layer to dry thoroughly before moving onto the next; this will create both shadows and highlights at the same time.

Treebeard continued. End of day sketch "How are we going to get in, I know just the Burglar/Baggins for the job".

Treebeard ceramic wall plaque continued/see previous posts. Very dark nutty browns laid down at this stage, these will act as natural shadows as painting progresses. End of day sketch/doodle Gandalf and Thorin discuss the prospect of tackling Smaug and a certain Baggins comes to mind. 

The Shire Haymaking (Oil on canvas) have just added to current work for sale.

The Shire Haymaking.

The Lord Of The Rings Tolkien Inspired Art.The Shire with Merry and Pippin. The painting shows a time when all seems well in the shire, Merry and Pippin can be seen in the foreground sharing beer and smoking Old Tobby, smoke rings and chatting are the order of the day. Farmer Maggot oversees the stoors in haymaking alongside the fertile farmlands of the Brandywine River, one of his trusty dogs Wolf sits by his side. But all is not as it seems, the traveler on the pony is telling of dark goings on in the shire and of strange folk abroad; Mrs Maggot can be seen leaning on the gate eager for gossip.

See previous post Treebeard now ready to be popped in the oven and quick end of day sketch.

Ceramic (Clay mixed with earth) Treebeard ready to be baked before painting. And end of day sketch "Don't talk to it Merry... Don't encourage it!"

Treebeard ceramic wall plaque work in progress.

Finally been able to get my hands on some clay again, so have started work on Treebeard at long last. First stage is just a very quick sketch, just to get a feel for the whole thing, followed by initial sculpt which will change constantly throughout the progress. Started to mix Andalucia earth/small stones in with the clay, this really gives a more robust finish; plus I think there is something magical (almost alchemist) about using natural  materials in works.