Nearly 20 years ago, I did a series of photorealist paintings inspired by Peter Jackson’s film trilogy, The Lord of The Rings. After gaining some attention by the Italian Tolkien Society, they were interested in organizing a traveling exhibition of the work, along with other Tolkien-inspired works by artists such as Alan Lee, Ted Nasmith, the Hildebrandt Brothers, and Ralph Bakshi.
To be recognized with artists of such caliber and to have my work included in an exhibition that would be seen across Europe was quite humbling for me.