2023 Graphite on paper, 6 x 9 in. The first of three book illustrations I created for J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

“..And as there seemed nothing else to do he did go to bed; and while the dwarves were still singing songs he dropped asleep, still puzzling his little head about Born, till he dreamed a dream of hundreds of black bears dancing slow heavy dances round and round in the moonlight in the courtyard. Then he woke up when everyone else was asleep, and he heard the same scraping, scuffling, snuffling. and growling as before.”