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New Ted Nasmith painting
26 February
2024-2-26 8:40:51 PM UTC
2024-2-26 8:40:51 PM UTC
Ted just shared his new finished comission 'arrival in the shire' on his FB. A fresh take on Gandalf and his wagon. It's beautiful
Shared with Ted’s permission.
"Arrival in the Shire"; gouache on board, 22.5" x 13.75" Recently completed, this is the latest private commission. In order to avoid it resembling Tolkien's illustration 'The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the Water' I positioned Gandalf and his cart as though he was approaching Hobbiton and The Hill, passing Bywater Pool, with Bywater village seen ahead. It's set mid-afternoon, and was for me an excellent opportunity to express my love of imagery from The Shire with a basic 'postcard' pastoral image.
Latest from Ted as seen in his social media spaces:
A recently finished commission; Orome and the First Elves; 22" x 15". In the course of this painting, which echoes the Silmarillion illustration At Lake Cuivienen, I considered a number of attending issues, as one does.
The Elves don't all react to this divinity's sudden appearance in unity, so some are wary and troubled, having learned over time that an evil power seeks their capture and enslavement, and had no reason to imagine any opposite powers. What would they wear? Homespun hemp clothing, and realistically, furs and heavy wool, like other, real-world primitive societies? And with no sun moderating the daily temperatures, life would be singularly cold! (Could forests, gardens, or flowers even grow under such conditions?) Lake Cuivienen is more of a sheltered bay of the larger inland Sea of Helcar than a proper lake, so I've depicted it as such.
The Elves, as we know, came in three distinct hair colours, so I'm showing their silver, dark, and golden hair colours as variations within this primal tribe, as would need to be accounted for. Orome himself then. He's related to the existing traditions around The Hunter divinity and The Wild Hunt, and like the character Geralt, Orome (and his fellow hunters) go about monster hunting for fun, so it isn't so strange that the Elves, on seeing this god upon his equally huge horse Nahar, might ask whether he comes as friend or foe. (We do know that a divine figure--the shapeshifting Sauron--later practiced wholesale deception against the Numenoreans as 'Annatar, Giver of Gifts.')
[Note: I am now involved in 5 colour illustrations for a deluxe edition of Jack Vance's The Last Castle. Watch for those to be posted in a few weeks!]
Latest from Ted, as seen in his social media spaces.
I managed to paint this small work this summer (11.5" wide), a scene described in The Book of Lost Tales (i.e. early 1st Age accounts). The ship is Mornie, carrying the souls of the Lost to the halls of Vu, the death god who later is known as Mandos.
Ted posted this as well. He’s been looking through The Book of Lost Tales apparently 😊
"Tevildo", the newest work from my studio, and another scene from The Book of Lost Tales. Up til recently I hadn't looked much into this account of the early conception of Sauron as a black panther, dwelling in a castle suitable only for these cat-demons. All of it with a typically Tolkienesque tongue in cheek tone. If the account in The Silmarillion is grand opera, then the tale of Tevildo is comic theatre. Lúthien Tinúviel seeks Beren, taken captive, with Huan (not seen here) positioned as the 'natural canine nemesis' of the feline species. I've conceived the cat-castle to be a semi-natural series of terraces and 'cavities'. The description of how Tevildo tosses Luthien onto his back and leaps to the highest terrace begged to be illustrated. (gouache, 15" x 11.5")
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