TANGLEWOOD (2016) by Michael Whelan, week 27 in his LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.

Even though this leftover has a Hobbit in it, it’s not related to any story. It’s just what I felt like painting two nights ago.

The oil paint was left on my palette from a session spent trying to visualize the Witchwood trees in Tad Williams’ forthcoming new novel in the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series. I often turn to oils when I’m playing around with shapes, as the medium allows me to push and pull the paint around until I sense something beginning to work for me.

I wasn’t entirely successful in that effort, which is why I put a little more “oomph” into the leftover than I normally would; I wanted to go to bed that night feeling a sense of accomplishment.