Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings Trilogy stands out to me as an excellent adaptation and has remained one of my favorites for many years. The challenge of adapting a written work into any visual medium varies with the work, but you can rarely make a shot-for-shot adaptation. This is especially true for The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's epic, with its long prose and chapter-long side plots, makes it difficult to decide what to cut and what to leave in to maintain a consistent narrative for a movie. It is still disputed by more fundamentalist Tolkien fans that Jackson's movies leave out too much, instead being more Hollywood popcorn flicks instead of a faithful adaptation of the novels. I disagree. I think Jackson's movies remain one of the best adaptations of the Lord of the Rings, and I believe they will not be dethroned for a long time. Everything, from casting to sound design, aligns to create a near-perfect visual reworking of Tolkien's epic. The first thing that always stuck with me was the visible style of the movies. The strong visual design put into the cultural iconography of each faction, as well as the many layers of detail put into each character's clothing and armory, show a level of care and talent that has yet to be matched in the fantasy genre. My absolute favorite part of these movies is their soundtracks. Ever since I first saw the movies, the themes of Rohan, Lothlorien, and the Shire stuck with me for a long time. Howard Shore's scores are masterpieces, elevating every scene with sadness, glory, or quaint simplicity. Another element of these movies, that was more of a product of their time, is the near-perfect casting. These movies managed to gather an ensemble of actors in their prime; with seasoned professionals like Sir Christopher Lee and Sir Ian McKellen, as well as younger talents like Elijah Wood and Sean Austin. What stood out to me the most was the casting of the elves. Tolkien was not sparse in his descriptions of the elves, and the movies managed to cast actors who could conduct themselves with the grace fitting of the immortal beings of Middle-Earth. But the story, characterization, and conflicts are what make the visual dressings worthwhile. There was significant trimming that needed to be done to make these stories work in movie form. The most important factor for me when it comes to cutting and reworking source material is that the writers understand what they are adapting. As recent attempts at adapting Tolkien's work have shown, it will be very obvious that you lack the talent and understanding to imitate it let alone adapt it. I believe Jackson's movies had to benefit of not only being made by people who loved Tolkien's world, but also had the counsel of professional Tolkien Scholars. It is not an exaggeration to say how big of a milestone the Lord of the Rings Trilogy was in technical and commercial success. Their cinematography and sound design requires theater-quality screens and speakers to be truly enjoyed. And they were fortunate enough to be surrounded by cast and crew who loved and understood the story they were trying to adapt. This rare collection of talent and love has not been matched, not only for Tolkien's work but for novel adaptions as a whole. That is why Jackson's trilogy remains my favorite to this day.

Being able to capture the natural world through paint and brushstrokes is always a very fulfilling challenge for me as an artist. The connection between a painter and his subject always leaves a much stronger impression on me than just a photograph of the same subject. Art is a life-long process, and it is equally exciting as it is frustrating. I love to take the challenge of painting something I see and not trying to simply copy it. To add something new, to breathe new life, to add new perspective to something we see every day is what drives me as a painter and as an artist.

This painting is a portrait of my dog, Gracie. Instead of making a simple headshot, I decided to have some fun with the premise of this painting, and chose to style it after a historical portrait, dressing Gracie in the appropriate clothing. The personality of my dog was the most important element to capture in this painting. Gracie has almost never growled or snapped at us, instead being very sweet and docile. Her feelings are somewhat fragile, however, and she has the tendency to be a drama queen when things go wrong. With all these traits in mind, I felt a portrait of a princess, duchess, or some other form of the European aristocracy would work best. I looked through many paintings related to this topic. A few began to look like they might work, but in the end, none of them kept me happy long enough to be in the final painting. It was after many rejected ideas that I decided to rethink my approach. Instead of going through portraits of the subject I thought I wanted, I simply perused a few art books, looking at well-known and masterful portraits. It didn’t take long for me to stumble across “The Girl with the Pearl Earring” by Johannes Vermeer. I stored this one away and continued searching, but I kept coming back to this portrait. It became clear that this was the painting I was looking for. When actually painting, I tried to not get too distracted by the portrait that I was referencing, and instead tried to let everything be dictated by my subject, even if it meant deviating from the painting. The way the girl’s head turns toward the viewer with a slight dramatic tilt is very reminiscent of the way Gracie turns to look up at us. With the expression, I leaned towards a more sorrowful look, making sure I paid extra attention to the eyes, as they are probably the most noticeable and beautiful feature of my dog. I also took advantage of the painting’s soft lighting, using it as a way to add some fragility to the downcast expression. The most important part of a portrait is to capture the character of the subject. Like all my pets, Gracie has a very interesting personality, and it would be a waste to not capture it properly in a painting. I believe this painting serves as an authentic tribute to my dog’s sweet, if not slightly over-dramatic, personality.