The Golden Wood, page 1

Watercolor Demo

The winter sunlight slanting through the beech trees in my neighbor's backyard inspired this painting, which I eventually named after Tolkien's "golden wood" of Lothlorien in The Lord of the Rings. I'd been considering this particular hillside for years, ever since my cat took me for a walk past it one sunny winter's day. The association with Lorien came immediately. (For those not familiar with the novel, Lothlorien, aka Lorien, is one of the "magic" realms where Elves live.) I've always been dissatisfied with other artists' depictions of Lorien, esp. the movie version -- Tolkien quite clearly describes the woods as (a) golden or (b) sunlit. Every version I've seen is (a) grey or (b) at night. So I wanted to give it a go myself, and let others quibble with ME for a change.

As I was working on it, I decided it also made a good subject for a demo, because I did something I rarely do; I used a lot of masking fluid. Usually I just paint around my white/light areas, but for this image I wanted something more spontaneous. As always, it starts with references. I took photos, but didn't want to be too literal, so I worked almost exclusively from my sketches, and from my personal sensibility. The brook was sheer invention, inspired by a stray pencil stroke and Tolkien's writing.
One of several fotos	One of several sketches
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