Ulmo, Lord of Waters

Oil on gessoboard, 5″x7″

The original is available for sale up on Every Day Original, and you can find prints of this and the other Valar on INPRNT.

Other Valar: Melkor | Manwë | Aulë | Oromë

(All art used with EXPRESS permission from the artist)

when you look into the mirror are you even there?

As my present for all of you, I’m giving a bit of a WIP I started with the idea of being a companion piece to Bottles on the Waves featuring some of the letters that Nerdanel sends for Maglor. I started it mostly as an excuse to write something epistolary related, but also to explore a bit more the bond between Maglor and Nerdanel.

I baked a cake for you today, an orange blossom honey cake, one of your favorites.

Do you remember the year you first had it? It began your love of different varieties of honey once I explained to you how the cake was made. Your father spent hours the next day in the market collecting as many as he could find and bringing them home to you so you could taste them together and pick your favorites.

It began all those experiments to make even more different types of honey, we had such a grand time building all those beehives and placing them and finding bees that had preferences for pollinating specific plants, didn’t we? Your father quite enjoyed it all, it gave him new excuses to wander farther and farther in search of good areas to establish hives and to create new things. You were always such a good helper too, singing to the bees to ask their assistance with the projects. They simply adored you, but then how could they not when you were so small and sweet?

I still make sure all the hives are in order, and you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve come up with several new varieties of honey in your absence. I think you would most enjoy the lilac honey, it pairs perfectly with that floral tea you always liked so much.

I’ve often wondered if you loved honey because it was golden and smooth like your voice. I cannot taste honey now without thinking of you.

There – I’ve made myself cry again, blast it. I promised I wouldn’t cry on these letters. I’m sorry dearest, I will try to do better.

Where was I? Oh yes, the cake. Orange blossom honey cake, with vanilla and orange frosting. I even put frosting bees on it and orange blossoms, I’ve sketched it out for you below so you can see.

Finrod is coming by today to celebrate with me. He hinted he is bringing his parents, but we shall see if that happens. I doubt Earwen will come, but Arafinwe may depending on if he can get away from his responsibilities long enough.

My parents came by earlier today to make sure I’m well and they send their love and wishes for you to come home. Your grandfather says to tell you he has continued the experiments you were both working on for capturing song in objects to play back a singer’s voice and that he trusts you’ll have some interesting new theories when you come home.

You’ll notice I specifically say when, and not if. That is not a mistake, Makalaure.

Finrod will be here soon, I’ll finish this letter after he’s gone.

Later

Well, Finrod is not gone, but he’s found out about the letters and wishes to be included. Your cousin is very nosy, you know. He says it’s called curiosity, but you and I know the truth.

I shall back up a bit.

Finrod arrived bringing with him his harp and your favorite wine so we could celebrate properly. He did not come with his mother, but Arafinwe did accompany him with a basket of little raspberry pies and he stayed for a few hours. We had dinner and then went out into the gardens for cake, pies, and wine and of course some music courtesy of Finrod.

I hadn’t intended to become emotional about it, but when he began playing the song you wrote for me the year you were sixteen, I broke down weeping. This of course distressed both Arafinwe and Finrod who tried to cheer me up by telling funny stories about you, some I’d never heard before.

Arafinwe told me that once during a council meeting you had slid off your father’s lap and toddled over to him. He wasn’t much older than Maitimo at the time, still very young for the council, and you wanted to play with him. He picked you up and tried to keep you quiet while everyone else was discussing a trade agreement with the Vanyar. He said you were fascinated with the beads and jewels in his braids and kept trying to put them in your mouth until he distracted you with a bit of ribbon that he used to teach you some of the simple versions of the cat’s cradle game. After awhile you grew sleepy and instead of going back to your father you slid to the ground and slept in the folds of his robes that were trailing on the ground. He said didn’t dare move for fear of waking you but you slept deep and peacefully curled against his ankles the rest of the meeting until your father came to fetch you.

I don’t imagine you remember this, do you? You must have been very young indeed at the time.

In any case, Arafinwe says you were a welcome distraction from the meeting which he’d found very boring. That at least has not changed, he still finds meetings boring

Title: My Heart Marks Time Thus

Characters: Finrod/Amarie, Finrod and Arafinwe, Finrod and Earwen, Finrod and Gil-galad, Finrod and Nienna

Summary: Finrod comes back from the Halls and tries to resume living.

Rating: M (see tags for details)

Chapter 1: an end and a beginning

Chapter summary:

“my Heart,

I have waited long,

So long,

Through the Darkness,

And past the Rising

your face never saw.

Come soon,

I cannot wait

But I still will wait

A thousand

Ten thousand yeni more.” - unknown Noldor poet

(All art used with EXPRESS permission from the artist)

I've made it! I've animated my own first illustraion! Well it just took two days of learning Spine 2d😅 and here he is.. The last breath of Fingolfin.

You have been alone, but no more.

"Dads, I threw up"

inspired by this post by @thesummerestsolstice

Guardians of Imladris

The Chief Councillor and the Captain.

*Slowly sliding in to leave this here and leave*

While talking with the Hobbits, Tom Bombadil puts on the One Ring. For a moment, all of the Nazgul burst into merry song. It is never discussed among them again.

I really couldn’t stop my self drawing this lol

Arien and Tilion in eclipse.

I have a request of you all. After asking artists for all the characters I plan to use in these polls, there are a few I am still missing due to artists not replying for whatever reason (mostly inactive blogs, I think). My fingers hurt from scouring tumblr for art of over 100(!) characters, so I thought I'd turn it over to y'all.

I am going to provide a list of the characters I am still missing below for which you can message me either recommending your own art, recommending someone else's art, or volunteering to draw a piece specifically for this poll. If you want to draw a character, just message me the name of the character so I can remove their name from the list; all art mediums welcome!

My only requirements for pieces is that they are safe for work, include only that character (not with anyone else such as a spouse or child), not based on an actor representation, and include at least one piece of iconography that you believe would make them plausibly recognizable to the rest of the fandom.

The characters I am still missing are:

This will be first come, first served on picking characters, just for my own sanity. Any help will be appreciated, thank you!

Things that Absolutely Happened while M&M were Raising E&E:

My watercolor journey continues! I give you the two trees of Valinor

Elladan and Elrohir