"Haldir"
©Katherine Wyvern 2017
A new sketch I did a few days ago, still inspired and copied froma picture of my arch-muse, Danila Kovalev (and I still don't think that I am done drawing this model and his incredible eyes... I have already a different thing in mind, way stranger... stay tuned).
The quote is from the Lord of the Rings, my favourite book ever (it sits on my bedside table at all times, where in other houses a bible might be found) and says: "“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are
many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in
all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
These words, spoken by an elf called Haldir, a minor character in the book, often come to me at times of sadness...
In the book (unlike the movie) Haldir is always seen in the vicinity of the watery boundaries of Lorien, of which he is one of the wardens, and I thought that Aeshna cyanea, the Sounthern Hawker dragonfly, would be a good totem animal for him. They appear in my garden each summer (they fly in from large distances, and stay, because of the pond) and it is a thing of wonder to see them tirelessly guarding their watery realm, fiercely fighting off any intruder that chances by. They are also magically beautiful animals, the closest thing to a winged fairy you can get in this world (but not a fairy to be trifled with... these creatures can fight like dragons, indeed!). When the first Aeshna shows up, each summer, it's a time for celebration...
This drawing was supposed to be midnight dark and faintly moonlit, but it did not pan out that way, so this is the third attempt. Still, the way it came together in the end, as the simplest pencil sketch, no colour, no fancy effects, was deeply satisfactory. There are rare golden moments, as an artist, when something clicks into place, and you feel a sort of golden certainty that 'this is the right way to do it'. This drawing gave me one such moment...
