Fairy-Tale Illustrator:Johanna Öst

"Monsters, left" by Johanna Öst

It's been almost two years since the last "Fairy-Tale Illustrator" post, which also turns out to have been the first of the planned "Fairy-Tale Illustrator" posts. Well, good ideas are rather like a good lunch. They should savored and not hurried, so I hope you forgive the delay it took me to find a worthy illustrator to follow after Ivan Bilibin.

Johanna Öst is a Swedish artist whose watercolors and sketches are light, stylish, and reflect (to my eye, anyway) the best of Tolkien's own watercolors, as well as the mood and whimsy of the 1970's animated Hobbit. And they're marvelous on their own, of course!

What would The Hobbit look like if illustrated by Öst? Let's take a peek at Chapter VIII, "Flies and Spiders" - the Öst version...

Chapter Frontispiece

An Elf of Mirkwood

A Legend of Mirkwood

You can check out Johanna Ost's website here. Enjoy!

Watch It Now! Wild Balkans

Mrs. Meadows and I watched an interesting program on PBS this morning: "Wild Balkans", which is part of the Nature series. It is a documentary of (mostly) untouched wilderness areas - places where humans either cannot go, or live in harmony with the land.

So how is this at all Hobbit related? Well, according to the official description, "ancient forests and vast wetlands harbor pristine wilderness, and sheer cliff walls and desolate plateaus preserve a seemingly unchanged past. Surveying these striking and stark landscapes, one might think they’ve ventured into the Middle-earth of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings."

The program is narrated with Tolkien's work in mind, with comments on how wood elves would live near the Adriatic Sea, and hobbits would live in the Steppes. It was a fun, and beautiful program. And perhaps best of all, you can watch the entire show for free! Click here to visit the official site.

English Russia:Russian Illustrations for The Hobbit

English Russia has posted some wonderful, homey illustrations from a Soviet-era copy of The Hobbit. I especially love this quote from the site:

They say that later, nowadays, when they wanted to publish a new edition of the Lord of the Rings in Russian they asked one of the notable illustrators to make new sketches to go with the book but he refused telling them: “I can’t beat the class of that old Soviet artist whose works were so enchanting to any Soviet kid”.


Related Post:
Fairy-Tale Illustrator: Ivan Bilibin

Fairy-Tale Illustrator:Ivan Bilibin

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Oh, how I wish Ivan Bilibin had illustrated that most wonderful of books, The Hobbit! Add a grey robe and peaked hat to the figure above, and we see a wizard riding to the rescue of his friends (captured by trolls, no doubt). Or change that horse into a snarling warg, and we can imagine a wicked goblin warrior off to battle!

Ivan Bilibin was a Russian illustrator during the early 20th century, and his work is a wonderful example of Art Nouveau style.

What would The Hobbit have looked like if illustrated by Bilibin? Let's take a peek at Chapter IX, "Barrels Out of Bond" - the Bilibin version...

The Elves of Mirkwood

Barrels on the River

Lake-town


Nova Akropola has a very nice gallery of Bilibin's work. (Note: the site is in Russian.)

Enjoy!
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22nd September: Bilbo's Birthday!

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"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."

Excellent Hobbit birthday site
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Elf Socks!

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While these marvelous socks are touted as a "Rivendell" sock pattern, I think they would be well-received and quite at home among the elves in Mirkwood.

You can buy the pattern as a pdf file by clicking here.

Related Post:
Hobbit Socks
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English Folk Song "The Fox Went Out"

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So I obviously couldn't let it rest.

Here's a great resource page for "The Fox Went Out", which includes complete lyrics and a 33 second clip of the song in performance.

Nice! (But not at all how I've been singing it!)
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Hobbit Socks

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Oh, man, what I wouldn't do for a pair of these socks...


Based on my favorite edition, and everything!

Link.
Thanks, Cory!

Pippin Lodge

.Designer Teresa Layman built this exquisite miniature hobbit house, which she calls Pippin Lodge. From the site: "Teresa Layman built this comfy little dwelling in a class given by the amazing miniaturist Rik Pierce at the Philadelphia Miniaturia show in 2003. After the class was over, Teresa took the hobbit house home and added details to suit her own vision."

"One part of that vision was a little hooked rug to lie in front of the fireplace. Well, that was the beginning… the need for a little hooked rug, paired with lots of encouragement from family and friends, has grown into the needlework business, Teresa Layman Designs."

"Pippin Lodge is now part of the Kathleen Savage Browning Miniatures Collection and will reside in the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center in Maysville, Kentucky 41056."

Link to Pippin Lodge.
Link to Teresa Layman Designs.
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Still More Mushrooms...

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...but then this is it for posts about mushrooms, at least for a while. My project is finished, and A Hobbit's Holiday is no longer on holiday!

These wonderful mushroom images are enamels - hailed as The World's Most Wonderful Enamels - from Wm Spear Design.


From the website:
Haven't ever had any formal training, but have always drawn and painted. Became fascinated with the pins because I felt that the ancient art of enameling was being debased by a bunch of yahoos sending a picture cut out of a newspaper to China and having pins made for their fast food franchises. Felt that if the pins were designed as pins, with the strengths and weaknesses of the medium in mind, and putting a bit more effort into the quality, they could be very wonderful items at a reasonable price. I was right. They were and are.

They are indeed wonderful - there is a degree of detail that I've never seen in any other enameled work. They absolutely glow in the light. Link to Mushroom Page.

Complete Beatrix Potter Collection

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Elf spring is just a few days away, and the birds and flowers know it.

I heard the first birdsong of the year just two mornings ago; it was wonderful! It's funny how you forget such a simple pleasure during the long, grim winter... And there are flowers starting to peep up here and there, and the grass is becoming more vibrant and shaggy - despite almost two weeks of solid snow and ice.

One of my favorite elf-spring weekend treats is watching an episode or two from the Complete Beatrix Potter Collection 2pk. I think Bilbo would approve - the tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny has a definite Shire flavour, perfectly appropriate for little hobbits of any age.


Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail,
who were good little bunnies,
went down the lane to gather blackberries:


But Peter, who was very naughty,
ran straight away to Mr. McGregor's garden,
and squeezed under the gate!

The animation is perfect - it looks like Ms. Potter's drawings come to life. A marvelous spring treat!
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Rune Generator

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Glamdring in Feanorian Elvish

The Rune Generator is an online tool that translates text into Hobbit Runes (the Old English runes found on Thorin's map, for example); Moria Dwarf Runes (such as the kind found on Balin's tomb); and Feanorian Elvish (above, below).

Glamdring and Orcrist are the swords that Gandalf and Thorin (respectively) claim for their own after the incident with the trolls.

"These look like good blades," said the wizard, half drawing them and looking at them curiously. "They were not made by any troll, nor by any smith among men in these parts and days; but when we can read the runes on them, we shall know more about them." (Chapter two, "Roast Mutton")

I've always wondered about that, since Gandalf later demonstrated that he could read Feanorian and Moria Dwarf runes as easily as anything else. We have to wait until the troop is in in Rivendell, when Elrond reads the sword-runes with ease:

Elrond knew all about runes of every kind. That day he looked at the swords they had brought from the trolls' lair and he said: "These are not troll-make. They are old swords, very old swords of the High Elves of the West, my kin. They were made in Gondolin for the Goblin-wars. They must have come from a dragon's hoard or goblin plunder , for dragons and goblins destroyed that city many ages ago. This, Thorin, the runes name Orcrist, the Goblin-cleaver in the ancient tongue of Gondolin; it was a famous blade. This, Gandalf, was Glamdring, Foe-hammer that the king of Gondolin once wore." (Chapter three, "A Short Rest")

Did Gondolin have a secret alphabet that, except for Elrond, was forgotten and lost when the city fell? Or - and I like this theory much better - is Gandalf just being coy with Bilbo and the dwarves and even Elrond? It would fit with Gandalf's history of withholding information and playing games to further his own ends. Because even the goblins apparently know the true nature of the swords, which they call Beater and Biter.

Orcrist in Feanorian Elvish

Hob's Calendar

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For many years now, Mrs. Meadows and I have respected our version of the calendar of Rivendell. Tolkien himself notes that the hobbits had a tendency to use the King's Calendar (which was based on the elves' calendar) in a way that suited their needs.

Well, I thought it might be proper to share our version of the calendar. It's not canonical, it's not meant to be, but it does a fair amount of good describing our local seasons.

April 5: (yestarë)
Mid-spring, start of the year.

April 6-May 29: (tuilë)
Late spring, time to plant!

May 30-Aug 9: (lairë)
Summer.

Aug 10-Oct 2: (yávië)
Early fall, harvest-tide.

Oct 3-Oct 5: (enderi, "middle days")
Mid-autumn celebration.
The season truly changes.

Oct 6-Nov 29: (quellë)
Late autumn, cold weather comes.

Nov 30-Feb 9: (hrívë)
Winter.

Feb 10-April 3: (coirë)
Early spring, nature wakes up!

April 4: (mettarë)
Year's end, mid-spring.
The season truly changes.

We don't use the fancy elvish terms for the seasons, we usually just say "elf-spring" or "hobbit summer" or something like. But as I said, for our little part in the world, it seems to work just fine.

(P.S. - I bring this up because the start of "elf spring" or "early spring" is less than two weeks away! Huzzah!)
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Urban Hobbitry

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In my part of the world, winter has clamped down with snow and ice. Now, there are many ways to enjoy a home-bound day when the weather gives you pause to travel. And one of the nicest is to sit down with a garden or seed catalog, and if you've got a garden, plan it; and if you haven't a garden, then plan a game of "urban hobbitry."

"Urban hobbitry" is the practice of tossing native wildflower seeds into marginal areas: vacant lots, alongside irrigation canals, on the banks of urban streams and creeks. These areas are usually teeming with some kind of plant life (grass, usually, and perhaps a dandelion or two), there are usually critters around - why not support and enhance the diversity of the area with some native wildflowers? The critters love them; some birds and bess really depend on them; and you can never have too much natural beauty in these marginal, disturbed plots.

Baby Blue Eyes

If you're interested in distributing a mixed variety of seeds, Victory Heirloom Seeds has a very nice selection of regional wildflower mixes.

Or, if you'd like to concentrate on just one type of wildflower, American Meadows let's you buy wildflower seed by the pound.

Happy hobbiting!
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Play It Now:Brave Dwarves Back For Treasure

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A video game for your PC that would put a smile on the face of Thorin himself - "Brave Dwarves Back For Treasure" is a light, entertaining game of, well, dwarves. Looking for treasure.

Join the brave dwarves, a Wizard and a Warrior, as they collect treasure and vanquish enemies in their quest to restore peace to their land! You'll travel through 100 fantastic levels as you explore the subterranean world that has been taken over by evil. Play as the Wizard or the Warrior, each with his own special skills and weapons.


Link to free download with one hour of free play.

I'm still on the "free hour" mode, and in the few minutes I've played it, I can say that it is light, enjoyable, late-80's-arcade-style fun (think "Gauntlet" or maybe "Kid Icarus"). Definitely hobbit-worthy!
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Ballad of Bilbo Baggins

In the late 1960's, Leonard Nimoy recorded a little song called, "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins." Considered an essential piece of "60's camp" weirdness, the song has even been featured on the Dr. Demento show.

And this mash-up brings it all together...



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Hobbit Movie (1977)

Ah yes, the animated movie that sent me on the road to Hobbiton so many, many years ago... absolutely perfect! For a generation of young hobbits, Gollum really is a nasty, froggy, green-skinned monster (gravel-voiced by Brother Theodore)... goblins are barrel-shaped, grey-skinned monsters with horns...
and the music of Glenn Yarbrough fills the air...

For some fans of The Hobbit, this animated version is a disappointment (I'll admit, I'm not crazy about the design of the wood elves), but it's one of the last great Rankin & Bass creations from the 1970's, with water-color backgrounds and original music.

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Watch the whole thing for free on YouTube...
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4,
Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8.

...or get it on DVD!

Used

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New (Boxed Set)

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Hobbit Name Generator

If you've read my profile, you already know the history of the name "Hob Meadows".

Maybe you've already got a Hobbit name; but maybe you don't and would like help designing one. No problem! Mungo Loamsdown and Dimple Bumbleroot (aka "Chris Wetherell" and "Jane Pinckard") have created a hobbit name generator for your easy online use.

Link.

It's quite fun to play around with; and there's a link to an elvish name generator, for those of you who speak Quenya, or who might have faerie blood on your grandmother's side.