I
had particular difficulty painting the hobbits, as my original
underpainting was far too dark for the following layers of thin
paint, causing it to look muddy unless I added thicker layers
on top. (You'll find that one of the interesting -- and time consuming
-- parts to my work is that I often make many mistakes, and require
a lot of time to correct and change them. I'm not Rembrandt, you
know....)
At
left you can see an earlier version of "Pippin".
The character's face was eventually repainted five times.
What
I thought would take just a few weeks escalated to over 350-400
hours of work, over a period of nine months (from December 2002
through September 2003).
I
deliberately used a limited color palette, with only one shade
of blue and green, to give the overall painting a period, "muted"
look. The stone background was created using thin washes of brown,
ochre, green, and black, mixed with generous amounts of linseed
oil, and then individually dried. As the canvas was placed upright
upon an easel, each layer of paint would "trickle" down
slowly, causing a wonderful textured effect.
Doing
not one but NINE portraits was quite daunting; I became so frustrated
that I put the painting on hold for over 5 months.I didn't know
what kind of border to paint, but about halfway through, I decided
to paint the engraved words from the titular ring as a framing
device. It gave the painting a classic look that I really liked.
Particularly challenging was Gimli's helmet and protective arm
plating.
Directly
above you can see a low-rez digital photo of the painting shortly
before its completion. More details were added (including more
texture for the hobbits clothes), along with some color adjustments
and staining, for the final result below. Notice the dramatic
difference staining makes in giving it a much warmer, "antique"
look.
The
final painting -- the most time-consuming project I've ever done.