wrong but wromantic (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sally_maria) wrote2013-09-29 06:04 pm
sally_maria) wrote2013-09-29 06:04 pm
Entry tags:
Oxonmoot
Was last weekend, and I had a good time, as I usually do. :-)
It was lovely to see many friends again, in such beautiful surroundings - though odd not to have to be much involved in the organisation, after 4 years. It all went very well, and Toryboy did an excellent job at Enyalië, I thought. (As I said to several people at the event, I think it is in many ways the most difficult of the Chairman's tasks. It's so public, and so important, but it's also very personal - it's all down to you to decide what to say and how to say it.)
The LotR and Hobbit Lego saw some active use in Ops/Hospitality - one favourite adaptation was:
Highlights of the weekend for me included Jemima Catlin, the artist who has created the new illustrated edition of the Hobbit, released a few days before the weekend. It was very interesting to hear her talk about her inspirations and I found I got so much more out of the illustrations through being encouraged to really look at them - they have a lot of small details that are easy to miss at first glance.
One point that I would probably have missed, for example, the way she used the famous photo of the Professor leaning back against a tree as inspiration for Bilbo's pose on the cover, as you can see in the banner.
Another thing that I was very much looking forward to was not strictly an Oxonmoot event, though we did get a special viewing, but was the Magical Worlds exhibition at the Bodleian. It's a free exhibition, on until the 27th October, and I highly recommend it to any one who loves children's fantastic writing. It contains everything from illuminated medieval manuscripts to the 6 circles, from Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series (Wood, Bronze, Iron, Water, Fire, Stone). It also has several of Tolkien's original illustrations for the Hobbit, the first page of the handwritten manuscript for "The Fall of Arthur" and also manuscripts from authors such as Alan Garner and Philip Pullman. It was a lovely way to spend a hour in the company of other fans. :-)
Next year it's going to be an extended event, starting on the Thursday - definitely looking forward to it.
It was lovely to see many friends again, in such beautiful surroundings - though odd not to have to be much involved in the organisation, after 4 years. It all went very well, and Toryboy did an excellent job at Enyalië, I thought. (As I said to several people at the event, I think it is in many ways the most difficult of the Chairman's tasks. It's so public, and so important, but it's also very personal - it's all down to you to decide what to say and how to say it.)
The LotR and Hobbit Lego saw some active use in Ops/Hospitality - one favourite adaptation was:
Highlights of the weekend for me included Jemima Catlin, the artist who has created the new illustrated edition of the Hobbit, released a few days before the weekend. It was very interesting to hear her talk about her inspirations and I found I got so much more out of the illustrations through being encouraged to really look at them - they have a lot of small details that are easy to miss at first glance.
One point that I would probably have missed, for example, the way she used the famous photo of the Professor leaning back against a tree as inspiration for Bilbo's pose on the cover, as you can see in the banner.
Another thing that I was very much looking forward to was not strictly an Oxonmoot event, though we did get a special viewing, but was the Magical Worlds exhibition at the Bodleian. It's a free exhibition, on until the 27th October, and I highly recommend it to any one who loves children's fantastic writing. It contains everything from illuminated medieval manuscripts to the 6 circles, from Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series (Wood, Bronze, Iron, Water, Fire, Stone). It also has several of Tolkien's original illustrations for the Hobbit, the first page of the handwritten manuscript for "The Fall of Arthur" and also manuscripts from authors such as Alan Garner and Philip Pullman. It was a lovely way to spend a hour in the company of other fans. :-)
Next year it's going to be an extended event, starting on the Thursday - definitely looking forward to it.
no subject
no subject
Those new illustrations look a bit like Kay's style (although I would probably say I prefer Kay's).
I'm sure she (Jemima) is very good though, and it would have been very interesting to listen to her talk about it. I understand that publishers are always feeling the need to bring out new editions, and why, so she was doing her job, and very well by the look of it :)
no subject
no subject
I think one of the main points of her style for the Hobbit is that her drawings are very much intended to be children's storybook illustrations - as opposed the epic, filmic style that has been popular in the official illustrations over the last 20 years or so, even before the films.
In any case, she seemed like a really nice person, and to have genuinely enjoyed being at Oxonmoot, so I think they could have done far worse. :-)