ideas for sword painting or drawing

A while back, I was sketching in my altered journal.  What I love about altered books and visual journals is that there are no rules, really.   That particular day, I was sketching swords.  I love swords.  From history, fiction, movies...  and I was trying to remember sword names .  Afterwards, I went back and added paint, and silver leaf pens.  I think most of these swords are from Lord of the Rings and Arthurian legend.  Swords are always named, that is fascinating.
There is an ancient Celtic tale concerning a sword named the Sword of Light owned by a god named Nuada.  It is also called the Sword of Truth.  Nuada loses his left hand and as a result can not rule due to the imbalance the loss of a hand causes.  Magically, he is given a silver hand, and with that gift, balance is restored, Nuada is able to rule once more.  I didn't realize at first how much this tale is mirrored in Star Wars with the young Luke Skywalker and his Lightsaber and electronic hand.

The sword of Light is the archetypal sword of a king which inspired both Excalibur of king Arthur and Aragorn's Narsil.  Which leads me to this painting by Alan Lee of Isildur after his sword Narsil is broken. 

Often, visual journals are a jumping point for artists.  I want to create a painting based on a sword.  Possibly with a Naiad (water spirit) or a dryad (tree spirit). Of course, the Naiad concept, the Lady of the Lake protecting the sword, has already been done.  Still, it could be done differently.  A sword being connected to a tree, that is another idea I like a lot. 

I like this painting of Gandalf with his sword Glamdring.

And this Russian artist's woodblock paintings are cool.  Here is the Sword of Light held by Luke Skywalker in an awesome mix of medieval folk and science fiction modern art.  

 Of course, there is the Accolade by Edmund Blair Leighton, a pre-Raphaelite artist.  I have a large print of this painting in my dining room. 
















And one more by Alan Lee of a lesser known tragic hero from the Silmarillion.  His story ends in a depressing double suicide, but his sword was awesome, and he stands up against Morgoth and does not relent his hope in the supreme good of the Valar and Iluvatar.  And this illustration is beautiful.  After further pondering, I think I need a real sword in order to draw/paint the real essence of the weapon.

Using photographs for reference is fine, but  limiting.  They simplify a three dimensional object onto a two dimensional plane, and a good part of your subject is simplified too much as a result. Some of the essence of your subject is loss. And drawing from observation trains your eye and pushes you as an artist.  It is more difficult, but the end result is worth it.   Mental note:  MUST go out and sketch and photograph some dogwoods.  They are blooming and are absolutely beautiful.