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The Deep and Humorous Riches of The Quest of Erebor
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit may be the perfect fairytale. It's a little glade of all the best wildflowers amid an ancient wood of such...
Miriam Ellis
2 days ago4 min read
126 views


Don't skip Tolkien's songs and poems this time
I've done it, too. Our hearts are racing at the thought of getting to the confrontation with the Black Riders on Weathertop. Or out of...
Miriam Ellis
Jun 113 min read
99 views


What Did Tolkien's Rivendell Really Look Like?
I'd live in the Shire if I could, but if I were to have just one epic adventure in my life, I'd let The Road sweep me off to Rivendell....
Miriam Ellis
Jun 68 min read
318 views


The Founding of the Fellowship at the Edge of a Forest
The first few pages of Chapter IV of The Fellowship of the Ring give us one of the finest examples in all the lore of Tolkien's wizardry...
Miriam Ellis
Jun 33 min read
67 views


With Gratitude to Professor Tom Shippey - A Personal Story
In the above video from Uppsala Books, the world's foremost Tolkien scholar, Professor Tom Shippey, gives a short and brilliant talk on...
Miriam Ellis
May 284 min read
39 views


Gildor Inglorion: Elves in the Shire!
I have often wished that particular Pre-Raphaelites could have illustrated from Tolkien. They had a way of using their paint to glorify...
Miriam Ellis
May 274 min read
297 views


Tolkien's Dwarven Music: An Unexpected Enchantment
Exactly how spellbinding must the music of Thorin's folk have been to counteract generations of Baggins' respectability and sweep Bilbo...
Miriam Ellis
May 224 min read
123 views


Bilbo and the Butterflies: A Magnificent Escape
One of the greatest joys I've found as a Tolkien illustrator is the way in which meditating on a particular scene as I research, sketch,...
Miriam Ellis
May 214 min read
38 views


Henneth Annûn: A Window on Eru?
The Window on the West is one of the last glimpses of beauty vouchsafed to Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee on their darkening Road....
Miriam Ellis
May 163 min read
226 views


Hobbit Pantries as Keys to Plenty
Within the first few words of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit , we are charmed (and appetized!) by the notion that the hole in the ground has...
Miriam Ellis
May 104 min read
131 views


Northern California Wildflower Art: Painting, Identifying, and Prioritizing Beauty
If you could believe you'd been put here on Earth primarily to appreciate its beauty, I think you'd find time for very little else. Even...
Miriam Ellis
May 64 min read
12 views


Now Available: The Art of Mercy in Middle-earth!
Click image to view The Art of Mercy in Middle-earth: Paintings Inspired by Tolkien's Legendarium by Miriam Ellis. It is with joy and...
Miriam Ellis
Apr 305 min read
72 views


Picturing Pre-migratory Harfoots, Fallohides, and Stoors
Have you ever tried to envision the three separate hobbit branches living in the beautiful Vales of Anduin before their great westward...
Miriam Ellis
Apr 284 min read
112 views


Bilbo's Memory: The Not-So-Secret-Fire-Works of Gandalf
The wandering wizard of hobbit legend can cause a glowing tower of smoke to rain biting sparks in a goblin cavern, set pinecones alight...
Miriam Ellis
Apr 244 min read
118 views


Our Francis: The Pope Who Loved Creation and Quoted Tolkien
Waking from the joys of Easter Sunday to the tender grief of Easter Monday, I picked up the nearest little canvas to give myself time to...
Miriam Ellis
Apr 212 min read
124 views


The Fairbairns of Westmarch - Traditions Worth Keeping
Without Bilbo's three books of lore , without Frodo's poignant narrative, without Sam passing these written treasures on to Elanor in...
Miriam Ellis
Mar 184 min read
212 views


Marcho, Blanco and Dark Ages Hobbit Hardihood
Late Third Age traveling companions of the hobbits were wont to be surprised by their hardihood. Likewise, if readers only meet the...
Miriam Ellis
Mar 14 min read
127 views


Gandalf's First Lessons in Pity for Hobbits?
Gandalf takes it upon himself to apprentice Frodo to the art of pity, but Bilbo appears to need no schooling in the subject - or is it...
Miriam Ellis
Feb 263 min read
160 views


A Seat at Professor Tolkien's Desk
Professor Tolkien has just risen from his desk, for a moment. His pipe is still smoking in a china bowl, and his dip pen rests for a...
Miriam Ellis
Jan 13 min read
249 views


The Many Mercies of Bilbo Baggins
The fate of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth famously hinges on the pity of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Yet, there is more to explore about...
Miriam Ellis
Dec 12, 20244 min read
113 views
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