(Click second thumbnail above to watch video)
 
Museum-Quality Matte Paper Print available in two sizes:
12" x 16" (30cm x 40cm): $35.00
24" x 32" (60cm x 80cm): $48.00
 
“'I never hoped at all, Sam,' she said, 'not until that very day; and then suddenly I did. About noon it was, and I felt so glad that I began singing. And mother said: 'Quiet, lass! There's ruffians about.' And I said: 'Let them come! Their time will soon be over. Sam's coming back.' And you came.” - The End of the Third Age, Epilogue to The Lord of the Rings; J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien
 
It's March 25th in S.R. 1419, and the Shire is suffering. The ruffians have invaded and are causing hunger, homelessness, and destruction of the green world, but suddenly, Rose Cotton begins to sing her song of hope. Mrs. Cotton tries to hush her lass because of ruffians being about, but Rose responds, "Let them come! Their time will soon be over. Sam's coming back." On the other side of the map, the Ring has been destroyed and Sam Gamgee is, indeed, coming back to his sweetheart.
 
By bringing home this museum-quality print, here are some details for you to enjoy:
 
Farmer and Mrs. Cotton are worriedly winding yarn in one of their work sheds on the farm you can see in another painting, "When Sam Spoke to Rosie at Cotton's Farm".
This is a very hard time for the Shire, and the hobbits look pale and thin, yet there is cause for hope.
The dormant wild rose outside the hut bears fruit for the future.
The robin and primrose symbolize the names of two of the children Sam and Rose will one day have.
The snowy stretch of road is the same one down which Sam will come hurrying in the fall to check on the Cottons and see his sweetheart when he returns from his perilous adventure.
The loom in the work hut is a reference to my favorite stanza about hope from J.R.R. Tolkien's poem, "Mythopoeia" which he wrote for C.S. Lewis and which reads:
 
Blessed are the timid hearts that evil hate, 
that quail in its shadow, and yet shut the gate; 
that seek no parley, and in guarded room,
though small and bare, upon a clumsy loom 
weave tissues gilded by the far-off day 
hoped and believed in under Shadow's sway.
 
This original, hand-done painting is a contemplation of endurance and hope in hard times. If you bring home a print, I hope it gives you strength as well as happiness in celebrating the deep ties of love that existed between Rose Cotton and Sam Gamgee that underpin her fascinating foresight on the day that Middle-earth is rescued.