Durin at Mirrormere by MatejCadil on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

The world was young, the mountains green, No stain yet on the Moon was seen, No words were laid on stream or stone When Durin woke and walked alone. He named the nameless hills and dells; He drank from yet untasted wells; He stooped and looked in Mirrormere, And saw a crown of stars appear, As gems upon a sliver thread, _Above the shadow of his head._J. R. R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Book II, Chapter 4: A Journey in the Dark

watercolour pencils and white gel pen

This is an illustration for the first third of the Song of Durin, sung by Gimli during the Fellowship's journey through Moria. It is only a part of an intended whole, one panel in a larger picture with decorative border (in a similar way to my Tale of Tuor illustrations, such as this). Hopefully I'll soon find time to finish it. By the way, the poem was beautifully set to music by the Tolkien Ensemble, you can listen to it here.
I first got this idea when last year I made the picture Troll sat alone on his seat of stone, and I thought it would be great to draw more illustrations of Tolkien's beautiful songs and poems. And this one is one of my favourites. And the second impulse came with a monthly theme "Reflection" on Projekt ilustrace, which fits perfectly well with the first part of this song. That's also why I first finished and scanned this first part, although I haven't started the other parts yet.
I hope you like it!

By the way, if you look at the picture below, you may notice some similarity, which is not coincidental, because it depicts the same spot, only some millennia later. (the pillar being erected to commemorate Durin's first look in the Mirrormere)