Ents : While Trees Sleep, Part 1, original upcycled vintage painting

“I am not altogether on anybody’s side, because nobody is altogether on my side, if you understand me: nobody cares for the woods as I care for them, not even Elves nowadays.” — Treebeard ("The Two Towers” p615 by J.R.R Tolkien)

During the cold winter months when the trees were sound asleep under their snowy blankets, the Ents roamed the woods to protect them. There were more Ents during the First and Second Ages of Middle Earth, and their forests were vast.

Over time as the races of Men, Dwarves and Orcs grew, the forests slowly were cut down and reduced in size.  By the Third Age, the land of the Ents had reduced to the borders of Fangorn Forest. They grew tired, lonely, standing still becoming more tree-like.

Then one day, two little hobbits lost in the woods, found a hill with a single gnarled old tree at the top. They climbed its branches to get their bearings above the forest canopy… and woke “The Ent.”

This original vintage painting was collected locally in Ontario, signed H.Wilson c1970. With it being so snowy here in Toronto these last weeks, I just felt like painting something wintery… with looking out on the snow covered trees in the greenbelt behind our home, I thought of Treebeard protecting his forest, and how he would have roamed to the foot of the mountains at times to shepherd the trees there as well. This quiet winter painting felt like the perfect fir for a solitary tree herder.

"While Trees Sleep, Part 1"
altered painting by Heather Castles

40.5 x 51 cm (16 x 20 inch) painting on vintage canvas

54 x 64 cm (21 x 25 inch) vintage wood frame