The Meeting of Aredhel and Eol. The

The Meeting of Aredhel and Eol
Approx. 16"x 20", black watercolor pencil
©Matthew Stewart

The ill-fated meeting of Aredhel and Eol the dark elf, from The Silmarrilion. This piece in my sketchbook started as a study of a door overgrown with tree roots. I kept adding to it, using photos and inspiration from a visit to Wistman's Wood in Devon, England last May.

Dragon study

This could be Fafnir, or Glaurung. I was interested in the scale patterns. Since he is flightless, he should be heavily protected. There's a lot of komodo dragon in this one. From my large moleskin sketchbook. Its graphite on paper, the two page spread being about 16" x 22".

The Teeth of Scatha

The Teeth of Scatha
oil on panel, 24" x 32"
©Matthew Stewart

“Jewels such as these you will never match in your treasuries, for they are hard to come by.”

Appendix A, The Lord of the Rings,

By J.R.R. Tolkien

Here’s a new painting I’ll be showing for the first time in a few days at the IX Preview Weekend, held at the Delaware Museum of Art. 

It’s a scene from the appendices of “The Lord of the Rings.” A legend of Rohan, the hero Fram has slain Scatha the Worm. A necklace made of the dragon’s teeth and the words above are Fram’s defiant answer to the dwarves’ claims on the treasure.

Images of Fram and Scatha would decorate the tapestries seen by Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli as they entered Edoras hundreds of years later. The small silver horn that Eowyn gives to Merry came from the hoard of Scatha.

Sketchbook drawing of The Teeth of Scatha
Graphite, approximately 16" x 22"

The Evolution of Makindi Sliderunner

Makindi Sliderunner (1st attempt)
graphite on paper, 8.5" x 11"

Makindi Sliderunner (2nd attempt)
graphite on paper, 8.5" x 11"

Makindi Sliderunner (that's more like it)
graphite on paper, 8.5" x 11"

Makindi Sliderunner
oil on paper mounted to mdf, 12" x 16"
©Wizards of the Coast

                           

infraREAL: The Art of Imaginative Realiam at the Jonathan Levine Gallery

Ozymandias
oil on panel, 20" x 27"
©Matthew Stewart

 On Wednesday this week, Jonathan Levine Gallery will host an opening for infraREAL, a special exhibition of Imaginative Realism art. The show is curated by Patrick Wilshire, who along with his wife Jeannie are have been collecting art for over twenty years and are the organizers of the highly successful annual IlluxCon conventions. It's an honor for me to be included with such a prestigious roster of artists.
My contribution "Ozymandias" sprang from a sketchbook exploration below. Not a literal illustration of the poem by Percy Shelley, the title refers to the theme of the poem- Nothing escapes the ravages of time, and the contemporary glory is fleeting.

infraREAL-the Art of Imaginative Realism
August 5-August 22, 2015

Opening Reception with the Artist
August 5th (at two locations)
557C West 23rd Street: 6-8 pm
529 West 20th Street:7-9pm

"I will not say the day is done"

"I will not say the day is done"
red pencil on toned paper, 11" x 14"
©Matthew Stewart

Having climbed to the top of the tower of Cirith Ungol in pursuit of the orcs who have taken his master, he finds a dead end. Believing Frodo to be now beyond rescue he sits down and begins to sing. This is one of my favorite scenes in the book. 

Honored Hierarch

Honored Hierarch
oil on paper on masonite, 12" x 16"
©Wizards of the Coast

Honored Hierarch is one of the two card illustrations I painted for the new Origins set for Magic:the Gathering. Magic fans would recognize him as an inhabitant of Bant from armor and golden sigils he wears. The man is the keeper of a sacred olive grove. I originally intended to paint a younger man, as seen in the preliminary sketch below. After submitting the sketch, I thought it would give him more gravitas, more of an implied history, if he were an older man. Rather than just the caretaker, he proudly looks on the grove of trees he planted and raised from saplings. 

Honored Hierarch (drawing)
8 1/2" x 11", graphite on paper
©Wizards of the Coast