New Tolkien Calendar

So, today I finally managed to pick up next year's Tolkien Calendar, the second in a row with Cor Blok's pug-ugly art. The most interesting part is the 'A Tolkien Tapestry' centerfold, arranging dozens of his LotR illustrations into sequence in tiny thumbnail format. The actual monthly displays give us more of his signature pieces, such as most of his characters being armless, and Gollum-as-a-duck, which sounds like a joke but unfortunately isn't. There are some odd choices of composition as well -- has anyone else ever devoted a painting to Grima spitting? (cf the one for October). I hear there's a book due out soon explaining how he came to do this project, Tolkien's response to it (or what parts of it he saw), &c -- all of which actually sounds more interesting than the art itself. Which is, as I might have said, pug-ugly.
I did have an amusing exchange with the sales clerk at Barnes & Noble when I bought it that went something like this.He: oh, Tolkien calendar.Me: yes. Tolkien's said to have seen and actually approve some of the art.He (after long, considering pause): perhaps what Tolkien saw isn't these pieces . . . Me: or perhaps Tolkien was a kind-hearted man.
--John R.
current reading: THE STAR BEAST by Rbt. A. Heinlein (just finished) THE ZERO STONE by Andre Norton.*
*probably my favorite book before I read LotR.