When I was a young student, I was fascinated by the fantasy drawings and paintings that accompanied my favorite books, Tolkien’s drawings for Lord of the Rings, the various illustrators for The Water Babies, and the great Maxfield Parrish’s illustrations for The Arabian Nights, stand out in my memory.
However, as an adult amateur artist, re-exploring my earlier love for drawing and painting, I have been inspired more by my surroundings. Urban sketching, natural landscapes and the objects of everyday life have been my subject area until recently.
It was sheer whimsy that made me decide to sit my game character on an elven Flet in The Lord of the Rings Online. One day someone criticized me for using reference photos to create urban sketches rather than exclusively painting on site. In a small huff of exasperation, I decided to sketch Lothlorien live.
My first sketches were well-received, encouraging me to continue with the journey. There was a convergence during this period of this subject matter with my own interest in exploring gouache painting, so some of my LOTRO paintings have been rendered in gouache.
