In the Old Forest

Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow;
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.

'Well my little fellows!' said he, stooping so that he peered into their faces. 'You shall come home with me! The table is all laden with yellow cream, honeycomb, and white bread and butter. Goldberry is waiting. Time enough for questions around the supper table. You follow after me as quick as you are able!' With that he picked up his lilies, and then with a beckoning wave of his hand went hopping and dancing along the path eastward, still singing loudly and nonsensically.

Too surprised and too relieved to talk, the hobbits followed after him as fast as they could.

From The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 6, by J.R.R. Tolkien
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So I've wanted to do LotR fanart for some time. The problem was there is already heaps of gorgeous LotR fanart out there, and I wanted to do something that wasn't as well represented as, say, Gandalf, or the Witch King, Shadowfax, etc. etc.

And so I fell back to one of my favorite parts of "Fellowship of the Ring": Tom Bombadil in the Old Forest. He has lost out a bit on the recent surge in fanart, since he wasn't in the movies, and I felt it worth my time to set matters right. Also, I got to paint his spankin' yellow boots!

It was also an excuse for me to paint a light-filled forest-scape, which as you will see has become one of my favorite subjects. ^^

Watercolors on 9"x12" Italia Aquerello watercolor paper. Seven days work. Characters and related prose © J.R.R. Tolkien, art © me.
Enjoy.