Aerial Altercations

Wow, two posts in one day… maybe it’ll rain – oh, I hope so!!!

Anyways, this is my submission for the 4th International Tolkien Themed Art Competition in Poland. Wish I’d heard about the other three, but no matter. I actually stumbled across this one quite randomly – am very grateful for that; and very happy about the opportunity, as those who know me will testify that I am a Tolkien obsessed nut. What can I say: the man was a genius and the greatest author that ever lived! Now I know it’s not everyone’s “cup of Ent-draught”, but Middle Earth, Elves, hobbits, dwarves, dragons and orcs are the reason why I fell in love with reading.

Back to the topic… The theme for this year’s competition is “Battles of the First Age” – so many to choose from, but the most impressive of these must have been the War of Wrath, even though there wasn’t as much written on this one as there was on some of the others. I chose to highlight the moment when the Eagles flew in to the rescue from the overwhelming force of Morgoth’s dragons. I would have loved to have also portrayed Eärendil as he slayed the great dragon Ancalagon, but such a scene would have been deserving of a far greater scale than my A4 sketch pad and much more time than what I had at my disposal. Well I hope my work is good enough as it is. I would love to win, but far more than that I would love my sketch to catch the eye of the prestigious John Howe, famous Tolkien/Middle-Earth artist, amoung other things (who will be one of the judges of the competition). I’m a huge fan of his work (like many people) so it would really mean a lot to me if he saw something good in my sketch. Here’s hoping…