My Life | My Music | My Web Links
I was born in Goderich, Ontario, in the mid nineteen-fifties. My father was in the Royal Canadian Air Force (as then known), stationed in nearby Clinton. My first memories, though, are from a three year stay in France, in the town Longuyon near Marveille, on the German border, where our family lived while my father was stationed there. As a young child, the memories of those times made a strong impression on me as we traveled about the nearby countries during holidays and vacations. Among these special memories are a trip to the famous Miniature Village in The Hague, Holland, as well as to Luxembourg’s Le Parc Marveilleuse, a fairy tale park; the latter is long gone now, it appears.
Like many Canadians, my childhood involved a series of moves, and in the mid-sixties we moved into the Toronto suburb of Don Mills. When I came to enter high school, I was advised to enroll in a commercial art program I hadn’t known existed. Prior to this I’d assumed in general that my habit of sketching constantly was merely a private hobby. During those formative years, I would spend many hours drawing pictures, mostly of ‘boy things’; spaceships, airplanes or modern battle, and whatever stresses were being endured on the outside were mitigated by retreat into my creative world.
High School training in various art subjects proved to be an excellent environment for me, and I flourished. In my 3rd year I discovered The Lord of the Rings, on my sister’s recommendation. Fatefully for me, her high school friends were much into Tolkien, and he/that became an urgent and deeply satisfying new focus for me. After graduation, I soon landed a job as an apprentice architectural renderer. I was hired by showing a flair for this type of illustration, though it was not something I’d studied previously. This small studio was run by a designer turned renderer, and I joined him and one other artist. Here I was taught much about this niche profession, working there for several years before deciding to carry on in a free lance capacity after the company was dissolved in the course of things. In subsequent years I continued architectural work while also diversifying into other forms of illustration, and in particular my Tolkien art, practiced privately for years by now, gained critical importance.
Tolkien had a very profound effect on me, and helped lead to much that I now count most significant in life. It opened up in me a dormant love of lost and misty times, myth and legend. Not since early childhood had I felt such a sense of ‘home’, unaware of the effects the intervening years had had in displacing it. Once inspired, I began to draw scenes and characters from this fantastic realm, becoming absorbed for many hours at a time. Tolkien and the compulsive satisfaction it provided were an important influence away from some of the less healthy distractions of those years, and the fun and creative fulfillment of depicting Middle-earth never seemed to diminish.
With much encouragement from friends and family, paintings of scenes from LotR led to dreams of having my artwork published, especially in one of the newly appearing calendars, but it mostly seemed a remote prospect. Successive bids for publication came to little, resulting in polite letters of rejection. Still, from time to time I’d see new Tolkien art which would galvanize me once more to paint new scenes, if only for my own amusement. These years were the mid 70’s to mid 80’s.
The Hildebrandt’s three calendars, 1976, 7, and 8, particularly excited me to seriously dream about publication, since their work was realistic and detailed. I felt I had qualities and insight in my own work that surpassed theirs, but also helped me further define my own style and interpretations. In that period other traditional illustrators and painters of the past century and a half informed my developing style. I would describe it as an echo of the American Luminist and wider Victorian neo-classical styles. I felt these traditions would well compliment the grandeur of LotR, and I’d always been attracted to this kind of art.
In time I became a member of The Tolkien Society, having discovered their whereabouts from a notice printed inside an art book of Joan Wyatt Tolkien paintings. With encouragement from them I again approached Tolkien’s publishers, and this time they responded positively, offering to include 4 of my works in the 1987 compilation calendar. Breakthrough at last!
Going from that to other calendars was a shorter step, leading to 4 works in the 1988 calendar, and my 1st full calendar in 1990, some 14 years after 1st dreaming of it.
Other calendars followed, as well as use of my artwork on paperback editions of LotR and The Hobbit. Then in October of 1996, just after returning from the UK, I received a faxed letter from Tolkien’s publishers asking if I was interested in illustrating The Silmarillion. A few months earlier I’d sent a series of colour sketches to them after spending a number of months compiling pencil thumbnails inspired by the book. Created as a self-assigned project, I hoped vaguely that they might be publishable in an art book, but instead they became the basis of negotiations for the first ever illustrating of this then largely unsung masterwork.
This new, illustrated edition of The Silmarillion was published in the fall of 1998, and was another significant step for me in achieving success and recognition as a Tolkien artist. Nonetheless, The Lord of the Rings remains my ‘first love’, and the commission to paint art for 3 successive LotR calendars [for 2002, 03, and 04] gave me a perfect opportunity to expand my LotR output. During this period, a 2nd illustrated Silmarillion edition was published, for which I nearly doubled the number of illustrations. It appeared in 2004.
In the years since, I have joined forces with Andrew Compton of ADC Books and Art, my representative for original art sales, and curator/manager of our annual exhibitions held in Moreton in Marsh, Glos. I should add that in the period from 1999 to 2006 I was very ably represented by Chalk Farm Gallery, both in London, UK and Santa Fe, NM, the latter where CFG now operates exclusively.
Aside from my career as an illustrator, I have a musical side. From adolescence on I’ve been a guitarist and singer, writing many songs (some Tolkien inspired), as well as performing as a tenor in several choirs, both worship and concert oriented. In the 70’s, along with two of my brothers (we are a musical family) I wrote a lot of music, all of us devoting ourselves to the art of songwriting and musical composition. Some of the efforts of that period even stand the test of time, but much else does not! I continue to write music occasionally, and a noteworthy project has been the composition of a 20 song cycle, in collaboration with writer/scholar/musician Alex Lewis, of the story of Beren and Luthien. More recently, I fulfilled a longstanding ambition to record a CD collection of songs, titled The Hidden Door (see below on this page for details). With luck I will continue to make recordings, and continue to enjoy performing my music among fans of my art when opportunities or events allow.
Through the years in which Tolkien has been and continues as a central influence, I developed reading habits into such esoteric subjects as sociology, politics, psychology, and religion, and also cosmology, ancient history, and any number of other subjects. I also enjoy novels in various genres. This includes fantasy, of course, but I haven’t cared for authors promoted as the ‘next Tolkien’, with the odd exception. In reading non-fiction, I fed my imagination on things and ideas grounded in reality, but which sometimes might reflect qualities in Tolkien’s distant realms, and add subtext to my interpretations of them. Aside from an interest in ‘what’s going on out there’, a sense of curiosity and wonder is what often moves me the most to inquire into a subject, and tantalizing mysteries of history or nature in particular provide great fascination for me.
Whenever time allows in my very busy life, I love to get away to my province’s north country, having a love of nature which was nurtured from the beginning for me. It provides the kind of escape only a wilderness environment can, is both calming and invigorating, and always contributes to my staying centered.
Ted Nasmith — September 2002, revised July 2009
Aside from my career as an illustrator, I have a musical side. From adolescence on I’ve been a guitarist and singer, writing many songs (some Tolkien inspired), as well as performing as a tenor in several choirs, both worship and concert oriented. In the ’70s, along with two of my brothers (we are a musical family) I wrote a lot of music. We all of us devoted ourselves to the art of songwriting and musical composition. Some of the efforts of that period even stand the test of time!
The Hidden Door: Songs in the Key of Enchantment |
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My song writing includes social-comment pop-folk compositions, love songs, songs which express my love of Faerie and religious or inspirational songs, such as Christmas carols, choral anthems and hymns. For my first CD I have chosen to focus primarily on Faerie. These are songs most closely associated with my Tolkien artwork, and most have at one time or another been performed at fan gatherings. |
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| Sample tracks from The Hidden Door | |
Where Beauty Dwells |
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To the Sea |
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River Daughter |
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Dying Embers |
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| Order The Hidden Door on CD | |
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North American mail orders: After contacting me through my site here, email@tednasmith.com, please send a check/cheque made out to "Ted Nasmith" for $24.00 [USD or CAD, depending on residence] to me c/o 6070 Hwy 7 East, Markham, ON, L3P 3A9 (Canada). That price includes postage and handling. UK and European orders: Please contact Andrew Compton c/o ADC Books, Crossing Cottage, Todenham Rd., Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos., England GL56 9NJ, www.adcbooks.co.uk . The price is 11.99 GBP. For residents in Central or South America, the Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and anywhere else Far Away, I leave it to you to decide whom to order from! |
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Beren and Lúthien: A Song Cycle |
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Another project has been the composition of a 20 song cycle, in collaboration with a writer / musician friend, on the story of Beren and Lúthien. Lyrics: Alex Lewis, based on the published text by J.R.R. Tolkien; edited by Ted Nasmith. Music: Ted Nasmith and Alex Lewis. Arrangements and recording by Ted Nasmith. |
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| Sample tracks from Beren and Lúthien | |
Tinúviel |
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Tol-in-Gaurhoth |
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Seek Out the Gate |
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Carcharoth |
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| ADC Books / Andrew Compton — www.adcbooks.co.uk |
| Andrew Compton of ADC Books, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, UK is my agent for promotion and sales of my artwork, and my partner in the creation and distribution of limited edition prints . Mr. Compton accepts all inquiries on my behalf regarding the purchase of originals or prints. This mainly centres on my Tolkien art, but also includes non-Tolkien fantasy, book and journal illustration in other genres, and automotive art. He is also a source for my music CDs. Please check ADC Books online for a catalogue of my artwork and all information regarding upcoming exhibitions and other announcements. Your inquiries are welcome at any time. |
| The Tolkien Society — www.tolkiensociety.org |
| I've been a member of the Tolkien Society since the mid-eighties. The Society is generally considered among the most venerable, tracing its roots to the 1960's when it was felt that a scholarly society was needed to both celebrate Tolkien's genius as well as to offset the more outlandish cult-like readings of his legacy. I can usually be found at the Tolkien Society's annual "Oxonmoot", held in Oxford, England each mid-September. |
| The Mythopoeic Society — www.mythsoc.org |
| I have also been a member of the "MythSoc" since 1987, a U.S.-based literary society devoted to the study and exchange of ideas about Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, The Inklings, and fantasy writing in general. Like the Tolkien Society, it is a group composed of both serious scholars and avid readers of fantasy fiction, and the annual Mythopoeic Conference (venue varies yearly) is geared to satisfy fans at all levels. |
| Beyond Bree — www.cep.unt.edu/bree.html |
| Beyond Bree is a Tolkien-oriented MENSA special interest group who put out a lively monthly newsletter of the same name. Beyond Bree is a good source of general information on matters Tolkien, with letters, often excellent articles, art, poetry, and event listings. |
| John Howe — www.john-howe.com |
| Here is the official showcase of this renowned fellow Tolkien illustrator. John and I have been carving out our respective niche's since our art was first published in the 1987 Tolkien Calendar. Already aquainted as colleagues, John and I got on famously in February 2002 at Toronto's Ad Astra Conference, where we shared Guest Artist standing. |
