Jakartass Home thoughts from abroad. Alien thoughts from home.

… is a misty golden landscape you just want to walk into.

So says Jonathon Jones in an article extolling the author/artist J.R.R. Tolkien (not to be confused with J.K.K. Rowling).

When I first set off on my own worldly travels, my literary companion was Tolkien’s trilogy The Lord of the Rings, a very thick paperback. The journey of Bilbo Baggins served as a comforting reminder that whatever problems I may encounter on my own journey through life would be, could be, overcome with humility and good companionship. And so it has proved.

When reading fiction, visual images are created and become imprinted in one’s memory, often to the detriment of later cinematic creations. Although I’ve enjoyed Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the Rings trilogy, and less so the animated version released in 1978 and the made-for-TV version of The Hobbit, much of my visualisation is rooted in Tolkien’s own illustrations.

I’m grateful to Jonathon Jones for reminding me of them and especially for linking to Tolkien’s visualisation of Hobbiton. (Click for an enlarged screen size version.)