Sam's Speech (+ Time-Limited Prints)

It's been a hot minute since I said yes to any commissioned work, but back in February a friend reached out with a request I just couldn't turn down. Would I create an illustration to accompany the text of Sam Gamgee's iconic speech in The Two Towers film? "It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered." Why yes. Yes I would.

Sam's speech, like everything I really love, felt scary to paint. How difficult it is to do justice to the stories that move us most. And this is a piece that has essentially doubled in resonance for me and for many others at this painful juncture in the human story—a period marked by the same horrors our world was passing through when Tolkien was composing his enduring stories of Middle Earth: rising authoritarianism, mass ethnic cleansing, shrinking green spaces, and a reckless proliferation of the "fires of industry."

As I sat with the text my friend had selected—a passage that is also very precious to me—one of the things that stood out to me is Sam's phrase about having "lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't." It was as a way to honor this component of choice that I decided to go with the split image backdrop for my illustration, contrasting the cheery and comfortable vista of Hobbiton with the bleak road to Mordor. Although I think the "chances to go back" are often illusory in our interconnected world where each crisis can spread far-reaching tentacles of destruction that touch even the safe places we call home, the illusion can be strong, and I do believe the choice for Tolkien's characters is a genuine choice.

The Process
In the photo collage I've put together below, you can have a look at the painting unfolding from lightbox transfer of my final pencil sketch to the extracted vignette I cut out with a craft knife and finalized by carefully painting its dark maroon edges with a detail brush:

Here's the final result with the cut-out vignette affixed to the text page using archival wheat starch paste I made at home:

When I look back over this piece, I'm filled with gratitude towards the friend who commissioned it and who, in doing so, brought something into being that otherwise definitely wouldn't exist. Patrons of the arts are wonderful people. 🤍

Time-Limited Print Run
I've been avoiding fan art these days in favor of more original work, and I don't plan to stock fan art in my overhauled shop with any regularity. However, as I got into the creation process for this one, I felt sure a few people I know would be really disappointed not to be able to get a print of this one. So I've come up with a plan for those folks. 😊 I'm going to do a single time-limited print run for this piece.

Here's how it works: I'll be taking print orders for this piece from today through May 10, 2025. (There is a print option that features the painting alongside the text AND a print option for the painting alone.) On May 11th, the order window will close, and this piece will be permanently de-listed. I'll then put in an order with my art printer and will expect to receive the prints back from them within about ten days and get them shipped out to everyone in the third or fourth week of May. So, long story short: if you'd like a print of this piece, you have until May 10 to put in an order here!

All the best, 
Bryana