The classic picture shown on the right here is towards the end of the story of King Arthur’s life by TH White and a wonderful depiction by Alan Lee of both King Arthur and Merlin.  This beautiful painting, well actually a combination of drawing and watercolour painting, was reproduced as a fine-art limited edition print that has always been popular.  The detail in the picture is incredible and really evokes the whole scene so well.  This was of course drawn and painted prior to Alan Lee’s rise to fame with the Lord of the Rings trilogy that earned him such high awards.  When you look at the quality of his drawing and painting it is not surprising.  Actually, it is more surprising that it took so long for the general public to become aware of such talent.  But then we always seem to rate our film and pop celebrities way above our artists.  That perhaps says something about our modern culture or a lack of it.  At any rate, it is quite certain that Alan Lee’s work will be enjoyed as long as there are people on the planet to enjoy it and will be an inspiration to many future artists.  Why not click the comments button and tell us what Alan Lee’s art means to you?

To see more art by Alan Lee click here.

Readers and contributors to the Artists UK DotNet blog are well aware of the controversy surrounding the AVATAR film by James Cameron.  Roger Dean fans all over the world have been clamouring for some kind of justice over what they see as the theft of Roger Dean’s ideas and designs by James Cameron for his AVATAR film.  Now it seems that Cameron is getting attacked as a hypocrite as well.  His seemingly bold environmental stance portrayed in AVATAR and in other ventures appears to be totally out of step with his high carbon footprint lifestyle.  Are we surprised?  Not really I guess.  But if  David Attenborough, who has done very good environmental documentaries, clocked up masses of air miles in the process at least it was for his professional work and not just for fun as it seems to be with Cameron.  What do you think?  Should we hold all celebrities accountable for thier lifestyles or just those like Cameron who are telling us we must do with less while they keep piling up more?  Read all about Cameron being a hypocrite and watch the video here.

If you still want to catch artist Ed Org at one of his shows this year then Birmingham, Somerset, Hants, Cambridgshire or Shopshire are where you want to be.  Do tell him you got the dates here please. 

So; here you go:

16 th October - Glastonbury Town Hall, Glastonbury, Somerset

23-24th October Broadlands Xmas, Romsey, Hants.

30 - 31 st October Avalon Faerie Fayre, Glastonbury, Somerset.

4 - 7th November at the NEC in Brirmingham

20-21st November  Wimpole Xmas Fair, Arrington, Royston, Cambridgeshire

27 - 28th Ludlow Castle Medeival Fayre, Ludlow, Shropshire

If you miss all that lot or you need something inbetween then as usual you’ll find all the Ed Org goodies here.

The War Spell by Ed Org

 This amazingly beautiful pencil sketch has just been published as a fine art limited edition print limited to only 850 copies signed and numbered by the artist Ed Org.  Like all his pencil sketch work it is finely detailed and tremendously evocative.  No wonder his fame is growing by leaps and bounds.  There are very few artists in the genre to compete with him in terms of composition or technique.  There are prints available now to suit practically any pocket or wall space from the small moon faerie sketches and countryside themes to these medium sized prints right up to the enormous ‘Wife of Lleu’ that despite its size and price is still one of his most popular works.  If there is a list of current artists in the fantasy genre whose work is most likely to be viewed very favourably in the future and become extremely collectible then no doubt Ed Org must be well-placed on that list.  You’ll find more examples of his excellent artwork here.