hobbit – Graeme Skinner

In’t Shire

Graeme Skinner — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 16:31:50 +0000

Mewn twll yn y ddaear trigai hobyd. Nid twll afiach, budr, gwlyb yn llawn pennau mwydod ac oglau llysnafedd……

Knocking away

Graeme Skinner — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 16:32:51 +0000

This started out as a larger piece, with distant hills creating a shaft of light from the setting sun, I didn’t like it though (being pickier than usual which is saying something ;-)). Anyway, I took the pen & ink thrush added a bit of background texture then played with type for a while….

For sale

Graeme Skinner — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 14:14:45 +0000

As it’s the final theme over on John Howe’s website it’s all about endings, so I decided to paint a scene from near the end of the Hobbit…

I had previously tried this scene in pen and ink but thought paint was more appropriate this time

100 Shades of Grey

Graeme Skinner — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 14:38:55 +0000

I had a small piece of watercolour board left over from the last project so I decided to practice mixing greys, as you do

Needing a subject I opted to paint one of Tolkien’s illustrations of the Lonely Mountain. Grey has never been an easy colour to mix for me so the rubble strewn and scorched landscape surround the front gate was an ideal subject.

Stone Giants

Graeme Skinner — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 14:06:29 +0000

Quick watercolour…

Dawn over the Shire

Graeme Skinner — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 12:34:23 +0000

I started a reference sketch in photoshop for a painting, it was supposed to be a watercolour yet I ended up finishing it in Photoshop – not sure it’s what I wanted to achieve but it’s done, for now

Sign of the times

Graeme Skinner — Sat, 02 Nov 2019 15:32:56 +0000

It’s practice time, so I’ve been painting colours, skies, grass, clouds, washes…. and I got the point where I had to do something a bit more real. So I rattled out a quick practice painting

Starting Again

Graeme Skinner — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 15:34:15 +0000

A while ago I started a painting which was supposed to be Gandalf leading Bilbo and the Dwarves through the mountains. The background went fine which is unusual for me, then the rock faces didn’t work out too badly. Then I added Gandalf and I didn’t like it, I added more rain, more clouds, tints, hints… nothing worked for me, so there’s only one things for it. I’ll have to go back to drawing board Next time I’ll go a bit darker, with a bit more cloud, for now I’ll leave this here to remind myself that sometimes whatever you do things don’t end up as you want them to

Maker of Middle-Earth

Graeme Skinner — Wed, 03 Oct 2018 05:54:58 +0000

We had the opportunity to visit the Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth exhibition at the Bodleian, Oxford earlier this month as we were visiting the area (okay, we visited Oxfordshire because the exhibition was on ;-)). I had read various reviews online both from friends and in the media and was rather keen to see it for myself. The exhibition didn’t disappoint, seeing the original maps that J.R.R.T. and his son worked on was something I never thought I’d see, and his original illustrations were simply amazing. I must admit to leaving a couple of marks on the glass where I leant in too far and banged my head The 3D map was something that would look good in any room of the house – so when the exhibition is over I’d happily give it a home The exhibition runs until the 28th October 2018 and is free to enter (though there is an online booking fee of £1 which hardly breaks the bank) – link.

While we were in Oxford it would have been wrong not to take in some of the sights, so we wandered around for a while, luckily it was fairly quiet.

When lunchtime came around we decided to stop by the Eagle and Child, well, you have to really and we had a drink and a bite to eat in the Rabbit Room

After lunch we had a short wander in the University Parks, well, back in 1992 during the Tolkien Society Oxonmoot at Keble College I vaguely remember there was going to be a bench dedicated to Tolkien, Sadly I overslept (think young and daft with student price beer :-)) so I never got to see the bench at the time, luckily this time I managed it and stopped to use it and look at the Cherwell for a while.

Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth featured graphic is from the Bodleian website.

Beorn

Graeme Skinner — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 09:59:19 +0000

I sat down to draw Beorn from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit in his human form meeting Bilbo and Gandalf, so of course I ended up drawing Beorn in bear form, well, these things happen