Welcome to my gallery! Make yourself comfortable.

If you need a break from bat-winged vampires and bleeding skulls, this is your spot. I celebrate the beautiful.

I love high fantasy literature, my favorite classics being The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, and The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. I often find children's fantasy to be better crafted and more worth reading than the mass-produced adult rubbish on the market, with few exceptions. As the great C.S.Lewis pointed out: "No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty...the only imaginative works we ought to grow out of are those which it would have been better not to have read at all."

As is obvious from my gallery, I am chiefly devoted to Prydain, and highly recommend the series to all. The book titles (in English) are The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King. Look in your local library, because a lot of bookstores only carry one or two of the five in the series. Read them to yourself, to your kids, your students; loan them to your friends. And please do not confuse them with the Disney animated feature The Black Cauldron, which, though supposedly based on the books, is considered an abomination by most fans of the series. It does occasionally serve the useful purpose of sending curious viewers looking for the source material, however.

Every Prydain fan should visit:
Tim Kou-Great Prydain character studies and some humorous moments
Kathleen Lei Jun Dallons-whimsical, stylized scenes of Prydain and its characters
Justin Kunz-The John Howe of the Prydain world. Sketches of nearly every character, plus one gorgeous oil painting for each book.
And, um, I hesitate to betray my uber-geekness, but I also have a Prydain fanfiction in the works, which you can read here.

You should also visit my husband's  gallery .  Because I say so.

Many thanks to all friends and fellow elfwooders who have been so encouraging with your comments and critiques; and especially to my fellow Prydain companions for their unabashed enthusiasm!

People who inspire me (besides the aforementioned authors and in no particular order): Alan Lee. Ian McCaig. Jim Henson. Brian and Wendy Froud. Frank Oz. John Howe. Drew Struzan. Alphonse Mucha. L.M.Montgomery. George MacDonald. Madeleine L'Engle. Robin McKinley. And the First and Greatest Artist of All: the Almighty God, to whom I give thanks for all His blessing and inspiration.