In a clearing on the side of a mountain sits a little village, with a church in the center surrounded by houses and cottages and barns. Warm lights shine from the windows and colored lights spangle two of the bare winter trees. In front of the church in the middle sits a bright Nativity scene and the village Christmas tree, as the lights within the church send the stained glass patterns streaming out in jeweled colors on the snow. Nearby a family of snowmen are toasting marshmallows over a bonfire.

“I fancied I saw a thin blue smoke rising amongst the stems of larger trees in front of me; and soon I came to an open spot of ground in which stood a little cottage, so built that the stems of four great trees formed its corners, while their branches met and intertwined over its roof, heaping a great cloud of leaves over it, up towards the heavens. The cottage, I now saw, was built of the stems of small trees set closely together.…

“I had just time to see, on the edge of the denser forest, a single large ash-tree, whose foliage showed bluish, amidst the truer green of the other trees around it. A shadow as of a large distorted hand passed slowly over the little blind, and then as slowly returned in the opposite direction.

“‘He dares not come nearer than he is now, for any of those four oaks, at the corners of our cottage, would tear him to pieces; they are our friends. But he stands there and makes awful faces at us sometimes, and stretches out his long arms and fingers, and tries to kill us with fright; for, indeed, that is his favourite way of doing. Pray, keep out of his way to-night.’”

— Phantastes, by George MacDonald

A winter version of Little House in the Big Woods.

Anyone up for ice skating?

A winter night in the Glen of the Twins.

Happy birthday to my twin nieces, Esther and Elodie! This is the sort of scene I'd like to be looking down on - they have so much to explore!

Christmas in the cottage in the cwm, featuring my mom's cat, Pearlie. This is my digital artwork, not a photograph except for the cat.

I had the idea and made a picture like this back in 2011 when I was fairly new to Vue software and 3D landscapes in general. Since I've gotten more experience I've been thinking for some time of redoing it. I love miniatures! Here's the earlier version.

This is the reverse of my Cwm Waterfall image, this time from behind the waterfall (and it's late summer rather than spring). This perspective was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's description from the chapter "The Window on the West" in The Lord of the Rings.

“They stood on a wet floor of polished stone, the doorstep, as it were, of a rough-hewn gate of rock opening dark behind them. But in front a thin veil of water was hung, so near that Frodo could have put an outstretched arm into it. It faced westward. The level shafts of the setting sun behind beat upon it, and the red light was broken into many flickering beams of ever-changing colour. It was as if they stood at the window of some elven-tower, curtained with threaded jewels of silver and gold, and ruby, sapphire and amethyst, all kindled with an unconsuming fire.”

You are expected, just follow the lights.

Here's a winter/fantasy scene in the “cwm” in the mountains that I've used for several other pictures. This time it's winter, and the solitary cottage dweller is expecting company.

Cwm Solitude
Cwm Waterfall
Cwm Autumn Frost