I think Pearl's been there, or knew about it; she's the person who first told me about the gardens at Heligan and the Mud Maid, linking me to that picture. I gasped, I thought it was so perfect! That was a year or two ago. Little did I know jan-u-wine would write this great poem for which I could use it.
As for Arwen, I tried photoshopping quite a few of the Ophelias, including Millais'. But she always came out looking dead with her eyes open, which I thought too bleak an image of Arwen's death in terms of the poem's presentation through Fimbrethil's point of view. It suited the Tale well enough, which I think does present Arwen's lonely death in Lórien as quite bleak and sorrowful, but not the poem. The same was true, though to a lesser extent, when I did a series of images based on the Waterhouse. Because her head is turned away (towards the viewer, but looking somewhere off to the side), it also came off looking like an Arwen resigned to death, but looking forward to nothing, not even caring to look at the sky or the leaves in the tree tops when she died. I thought it looked quite sad. Still, it was the best I could do.
Then, at the last moment, I came across the Dodd, which I'd never seen. I thought it would be perfect. Ophelia looks like she has just died, or is dying, but has been looking up at the sky. With her arms out like that, open, accepting, or in the "orans" position (used in prayer by many peoples over the millenia), depending on how you look at it, it just seemed the best choice for Arwen's death seen by Fimbrethil. And when I began to put it through the filter in various colours, I saw that it took on the "turned to flowers/stars" effect, depending on the colours used, and that clinched it.
I think the Frodo images came out beautifully. It's a gorgeous scene in the film, but the images, even removed from the film's context, are still gorgeous and deeply evocative of what I wanted: a person being winged away in dreams. The filter only enhanced the dreaming quality.
You haven't missed that much, Blossom, for I don't post that often any more. Besides, the last three before this one were all "real life" posts, with nothing to do with Tolkien or Frodo. It's not like the LJ is going anywhere, so you can browse when and where you have the notion.
But your real life has been pressing upon you? Not all in bad ways, I hope. :)
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Date: 2009-04-26 05:45 pm (UTC)As for Arwen, I tried photoshopping quite a few of the Ophelias, including Millais'. But she always came out looking dead with her eyes open, which I thought too bleak an image of Arwen's death in terms of the poem's presentation through Fimbrethil's point of view. It suited the Tale well enough, which I think does present Arwen's lonely death in Lórien as quite bleak and sorrowful, but not the poem. The same was true, though to a lesser extent, when I did a series of images based on the Waterhouse. Because her head is turned away (towards the viewer, but looking somewhere off to the side), it also came off looking like an Arwen resigned to death, but looking forward to nothing, not even caring to look at the sky or the leaves in the tree tops when she died. I thought it looked quite sad. Still, it was the best I could do.
Then, at the last moment, I came across the Dodd, which I'd never seen. I thought it would be perfect. Ophelia looks like she has just died, or is dying, but has been looking up at the sky. With her arms out like that, open, accepting, or in the "orans" position (used in prayer by many peoples over the millenia), depending on how you look at it, it just seemed the best choice for Arwen's death seen by Fimbrethil. And when I began to put it through the filter in various colours, I saw that it took on the "turned to flowers/stars" effect, depending on the colours used, and that clinched it.
I think the Frodo images came out beautifully. It's a gorgeous scene in the film, but the images, even removed from the film's context, are still gorgeous and deeply evocative of what I wanted: a person being winged away in dreams. The filter only enhanced the dreaming quality.
You haven't missed that much, Blossom, for I don't post that often any more. Besides, the last three before this one were all "real life" posts, with nothing to do with Tolkien or Frodo. It's not like the LJ is going anywhere, so you can browse when and where you have the notion.
But your real life has been pressing upon you? Not all in bad ways, I hope. :)