Elijah Wood

Lord of the Rings - Frodo

My first ever portrait painting

Painted in August 2006

Acrylic on canvas - 30 inch x 24 inch

For Sale on Ebay - Click here for Ebay listing

Autographed by Elijah in February 2007

When I decided to begin painting as a hobby in 2006 (see the page ‘About my Art’ for the full story), my first choice was to paint a scene from my favourite film ‘Lord of The Rings’ (see the page of Sir Ian McKellen).

I then went a step further and painted a portrait of the lead character ‘Frodo’, played superbly by Elijah Wood.

After over 30 hours of work involving careful preparation, penciling in the draft outline of the painting, then painting the portrait itself, I decided to use a paste to create a 3D effect on his hair and the ring. I also bought pure 24ct Gold leaf, from gold specialists Wrights of Lymm, and covered the ring he is holding with the gold leaf.

Many of my friends praised the painting and some months later I sent a photo of the two paintings to my new friend Rebecca in Belgium. She was also a huge fan of the film and loved the paintings. She mentioned that Elijah was currently filming a new film in London and came up with the idea that perhaps we could endeavour to meet him and ask him to autograph it!

…and so began a magical adventure.

It was February 2007 and the only information we had was that Elijah Wood was filming at a University in north London.

Rebecca came over from Belgium with her boyfriend Robin, on the Eurostar. We met in London and drive to the area where we thought it was being filmed.

When we arrived at the suburb, we saw a huge old Georgian University surrounded by a playing field and a large perimeter fence. Robin noticed trailers and spotlights outside the main building and said 'It must be there!'

The building was set in large grounds with a high wooden perimeter fence, with only one entrance gate that had a security guard. We approached him and asked if we were allowed to go in and meet Elijah. He was a nice man but said it was a 'closed set' and could not allow anyone to go in. So we returned to where I had parked the car to think again.

Undeterred, and having travelled from Belgium, Rebecca affirmed she would not go home without meeting Elijah. We managed to climb the wooden fence down a side road, along with my large art case containing the two paintings!

We walked across the playing field to a row of large metal security fences surrounding all the trailers and equipment in the courtyard. I saw a small gap where two fences were not joined. We managed to squeeze through, and very nervously walked towards the edge of the courtyard which was bustling with crew, all grabbing a quick lunch from the many tables of food laid out.

Shaking with nerves, we took a few deep breaths and decided the only thing to do was walk right over to them! Trying to appear very calm (perhaps the start of my acting skills!) we walked into the centre of the food area, holding my art case and trying appear as though I was one of the crew.

As we got there the crew looked at us but we kept walking calming and nobody said anything.

We walked right into the centre of the forecourt. We continued to wander around, not knowing what to do next. Then Robin said quietly “There is Elijah!”, and sure enough the man standing just ten metres away chatting to someone was indeed Elijah Wood!

We walked over to him. Robin spoke to Elijah and to our surprise Elijah turned and said “Hey guys!” and started chatting to us like we were friends. An incredibly warm hearted and genuine man.

As Rebecca was asking for a photo and autograph, I took both my paintings out of the case. I said to Elijah I had painted these and would he mind signing them? His eyes lit up and he said “Wow they are beautiful paintings!” And then kindly autographed both of them!

I asked for a photo with him and he said "Yes of course!".

Then a crew member came over and said "Elijah the set is ready for you". We thanked Elijah for his time and he said "No problem at all!" and he left with the crew to go and film his next scene.

We calmly walked back behind the trailers, across the field and made our escape over the fence before getting noticed.

It was a incredible that we were there in the forecourt at just the minute that Elijah was taking a few minutes break from filming. A minute before he would have been still inside his trailer and we would have walked passed, a minute later and he would have been back on set. A miraculous experience and Elijah is a truly wonderful man, genuine, warm and kind.

A magical memory to treasure forever!

Below is the film of Elijah signing both paintings.