Lad of the Rings Redux
The Gathering of the Fellowship: There was an artist who was not in attendance at the Gathering named Ruth Lacon, an Englishwoman of prodigious talent and imagination. Her agent made sure a number of copies of her book were available, although he couldn’t bring a whole crate over. There were originally about six or seven copies. All but one had sold ($50 Canadian) by late Sunday, the second of three days of the Gathering. Her inspiration ranges from the Bayeux Tapestry to classic Indian artwork and she has illustrations from The Hobbit, the Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings, and probably other of JRRT’s works that I haven’t read. Oh, wait, she did a scene from Farmer Giles of Ham, which I loved as a teenager.
Here’s the general Google string for ‘Ruth Lacon’ and worth the browse, let me tell you.
She’s wonderfully talented, with a wide range of cultural inspirations and her illustrations inspired by the Silmarillion alone are moving and evocative. FY yer I, every couple of months from now on, google this, and look for a new edition of ‘The Hobbit ‘ illustrated by Ruth Lacon.
Her agent in the UK (and I guess, abroad) is Andy Compton of ADC Book and ADC Promotions. He was here at the Gathering and ain’t just an entrepreneur. He loves Tolkien’s works as much as any old New World streetcorner LOTR geek with an encyclopaedic memory: “Spare a quarter for a Middle Earth question?” We all grew up with them here in Toronto.; it’s a Loonie now (a dollar coin for you foreign visitors. “How old was Frodo on Bilbo’s eleventy-first birthday?” You’d be surprised!)
If our streetcorner LOTR geeks aren’t in your tourist guide, (they have distinctive hats) you can always ask anybody you meet:they all know what’s going on.
Now I just found out that Tolkien is considered to have used certain Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire landmarks as inspirations for things like the Three Farthing Stone and the Barrow Downs. I heard this from an Englishman of indeterminate accent, an Englishwoman speaking to Andy and from Andy Compton himself , whose headquarters are in Moreton-in-Marsh, in, of all places, Oxfordshire, which is like this close “< ->” to Gloucestershire. Seriously. Foreign people have such fascinating customs.
Now I’ve admired Ted Nasmith’s work for years. He’s Canadian which doesn’t hurt, and he works hard too. Check my previous post for his link and see what else he does. Knock your socks off, I swear to god. A god. The Gods. I don’t know.
So, anyhoo, Ruth Lacon. Explore her link above.
July 4th, 2006 at 7:40 am
So did you have fun at the convention?
July 4th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
I had lots of fun. It was much smaller this time around, and was in danger of being cancelled not too long ago. There were probably only about 100-150 people there. The sessions and panels were smaller and more intimate, but there was nothing like that reading from The Hobbit by Craig Parker and Mumblemumble Mumble (whose name I forget, another actor from the films.) I’ll have some more notes later.
Hey, thanks for asking!