Green Men - The Spirits of the Seasons

I'm so pleased at long last to have finally given my Green Man series the time and attention it deserves. These ideas have laid waiting patiently for so long I had been feeling serious guilt about neglecting them for so many years. But after months of work I can finally say I have done the pieces justice.

Initially I intended to simply create a series featuring as many of my Green Man ideas as possible. However as sketching progressed and the complexity of the pieces grew I decided I would have to limit which ideas I was exploring unless I was willing to dedicate the entire year to the series. After some consideration I decided to transform my favourite ideas into the Spirits of the Seasons.

The series is designed to capture the essence of each season, visually but also the personality and feel I get for each time of year. Spring is the awakening, sleepy and bleary eyed but sending out new growth into the world. Summer is joyous and vibrant. The happiness seems never ending as he chuckles to see the insects go by and the flowers bloom. Autumn is humble and quiet. His appearance is most fleeting of all, yet he knows he is the most beautiful. In creeps winter, grumpy and frostbitten. Sad to have lost his leaves once more and silently waiting for Spring to awaken him and give him life anew.

Creating these characters was quite important for me in the process of developing the series, which I wasn't expecting. It helped me to give the pieces real depth and feeling which is something I really wanted to achieve to do the series justice. Through this process I hoped to evoke some of what our ancient ancestors felt about the seasons and how important these changes were for ancient Britons.

My Green Man series is now available as A4 prints here, with postcards and greeting cards coming soon ...

Nine Stones Close

Recently I have become more determined than ever to visit the amazing ancient sites spread across our country.

Our island nations pre-Christian history and traditions are very important to me as I feel they reflect our identity and the true nature of our people and land. These ancient oral traditions are largely lost to us now, but glimpses still remain here and there, in tales, songs and most importantly the landscape.
One huge impact still seen in the British landscape today is henges and barrows.

Throughout 2019 I’ve been trying to make a strange heathen pilgrimage to as many of these sites as I can, starting of course with my local county Derbyshire.

Having already visitors Doll Tor, Arbour Lowe and the Nine Ladies, the next on my list was Nine Stones Close, near to Robin Hoods Stride.

These adventures are always a bit of a magical mystery tour, as Neolithic sites such as this are not generally depicted on my hiking app, so it’s always a bit of a voyage of discovery, which is refreshing as you usually stumble on all sorts of other interesting things on the way.

Unfortunately only 4 of the nine stones which make up the circle remain erect, and yet the stone circle still has a powerful presence within the landscape. It’s easy to imagine just how impacting it would have been with all 9 stones standing, proud on the brow of the hill, with Robin Hoods Stride in the distance and the landscape rolling all around.

I always find it an amazing experience to walk around these places in the footsteps of our ancestors, to touch the stones they touched and wonder what they felt, what it meant to them. Also looking out to gaze upon their world and what they would have seen from this obviously important spot, usually it’s a breathtaking landscape and endless moorland. While today the landscape is somewhat changed, with farming having a large impact on what we see now, it’s easy to imagine what our ancestors might have seen looking out into the wider world.

 

Work in progress: The Green Man series

For the longest time, in my first ideas book after finishing University I have had scribblings of series which are still patiently waiting to be realised. Every year I declare I’m going to finally start on my own Green Man series and do justice to these nature spirits I dreamed the faces of so many years ago. And every year things happen, other ideas crop up and I continue to keep them on the back burner.

But as this year drew to a close I decided enough was enough. I started working on progressing my thumbnail sketches into full size line work, and then onto paper, returning to my most common mixed media technique using biro and watercolour (as opposed to my recent dip pen experiments).

One daunting issue with this series has always been the sheer number of ideas I have. If I work on them all the series will be mammoth! So I’ve decided to be selective (for now) and initially work on what I’m calling ‘the four seasons’. It’s quite frustrating as I really want to realise a lot of the other characters, but that may have to be a battle for another day!

Because of the detail involved in these pieces they are proving very time consuming. Never one to make life easy for myself I decided to also incorporate some knotwork in the form of borders as a nod to our Celtic history and pre-Christian traditions and beliefs in Britain. This has proved a real challenge and is somewhat unforgiving if you make any errors. Complete precision is essential but tough. I can see why manuscript scholars claimed they would put one error on each page because only god is perfect, it’s near impossible not to make one! (Good cover story lads!)

So far with these pieces I’ve gotten a lot of pen work done, but as ever with this time of year there’s so few hours of daylight in which to work, making moving onto my watercolour layer difficult indeed.
I’m hoping that now with the passing of midwinter and the lengthening of days once more I can begin to get some colour into the pieces and truly bring them to life!

Brian Froud

In all my years I can't say I've changed a great deal honestly. As a child, books and films were some of the biggest influences on my life and who I was, and the same is still true today.
As a young, impressionable girl I remember my love of picking up beautiful books filled with wonderous pictures (again, nothings changed). 'In Search of Forever' by Rodney Matthews, 'The Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were' by Michael Page and Robert Ingpen (with illustrations by various artists) and 'Faeries' by Brian Froud and Alan Lee were the ones which have stuck with me all my life and left a lasting impression on me, as well as moulding me as a person.
So when by chance I saw that Brian and Wendy Froud would be appearing at Fantasy Forest Festival, giving a talk but also present all weekend, I knew what needed to be done.

As a child never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would meet these incredible people with off the scale talent in real life. And I admit, part of me still feels that way; disbelief. Meeting Brian Froud was a big deal, to 6 year old me reading about Kelpies and Redcaps for the first time, but also to aging Alice as an Artist herself.

Brian was certainly the most humble, down to earth artist I've ever met. I felt rather embarrassed taking my tatty old copy of  'Faeries' to him, but he signed it all the same, which was important to me as its been with me all my life, and I intend to keep it that way. He was more than happy to indulge my ramblings and also discuss the upcoming new 'Dark Crystal' series which Netflix are due to release, and we happily agreed on a passion for 'real' things and what they bring that CGI just cant.

Brian's talk was an incredible insight into his mind, methods and world. Clearly nervous and it would appear not particularly fond of public speaking, Brian immediately won us over jokingly asking if he could go home and he'd made a mistake agreeing to do this (though I do suspect there may have been some truth in his words), but he talked on about his work and the thinking behind it. He was truly in his stride when he got out a portfolio and began to share new artworks with us all. All previously unseen by the public, mostly painted in the last few months. I didn't fail to appreciate what an amazing, once in a life time opportunity this was. My eyes were out on stalks.

Brian shared pieces in his trademark style of a composition bursting with countless faeries, he discussed these pieces being quite 'flat', which I'd never actually considered before, but is entirely true. They were nothing short of stunning and moved me so much. I felt like a child thumbing through 'Faeries' seeing Froud's art for the first time. Then came pieces which were quite different, much more close-up, in your face faeries. Their personality really shone through, their naughtiness, their cheeky sidewards glances, their mystery. And though very different they are equally engaging and have the same curiosity-inducing, mystical beauty.   

Brian talking about his pieces in detail was fascinating. What different elements mean, and the fact one day he could simply no longer paint with watercolour washes anymore. It just wouldn't physically work, which is incredible! So started working in acrylic instead. His mention of 'The Green Woman' was also very intriguing as I am planning a Green Man series later this year myself, definitely food for thought!

For me, the most interesting insight was hearing Brian talk about being what being an artist is to him. Hearing him say he hates painting and its a total nightmare initially shocked me, but when he talked about wishing there was an easier way to get to the end result, without all the torture and torment, I began to understand what he meant. I remember for many years a hideous frustration at seeing what I wanted to create in my mind and not having the artistic skill to achieve it. While I'm not for a second suggesting Brian could ever not achieve what he put his mind to, art can be a difficult, heart wrenching thing. Something else I thought was fascinating was his comments that creating artwork is just constantly trying to fix what you're working on and resolve a piece, but knowing when to stop and not tip a painting over the edge meaning you have lots more fixing to do. A very true sentiment even though I never thought about painting like that.
Brian saying he thinks hes very boring and has no imagination was really quite baffling! He gave the impression its not really him creating these creatures, but they create themselves and come into being through their own will. He lets them take on their own personality and creates them all from shapes or lines, and doesn't seem to consider his own imagination to have any part in the matter.

Something which was honestly refreshing, was hearing Brian talk about his belief in Faeries. I think without this belief Brian couldn't really create the compositions which he does with such beauty and conviction. It is a wonderful thing to believe that there truly is still some real magic in the world, and Brian has helped capture that for countless people with minds wandering astray from the world which we live in. Brian may think he has no imagination, but I think him and Wendy have minds, and hearts nothing short of glorious.

Thank you to Brian and Wendy for their time, kindness and being absolutely wonderful souls!

'Evil, be gone ...': Eguzkilore inspired Flora and Fauna

This design has particular significance for me. It was inspired by numerous trips to Southern France and Basque country, which has its own very unique traditions and beliefs. In the region many beliefs have existed which are almost unique to the area and have often been persecuted, such as Basque Paganism and the Cathars. The remnants of these beliefs live on in different traditions and daily life in the region. I first noticed visiting the incredibly picturesque Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert 4 years ago a strange symbol adorning many doors in the commune, what I thought to be a dried sunflower, yet subsequent research revealed it to be a Carlina acaulis - a type of silver thistle (which I detailed in my blog 'Eguzkilore'). Research told me the symbol had originated from basque pagan tradition, symbolising the sun and protecting the home from darkness and demons. Yet again last year I saw the symbol, in Narbonne in a collection of archeological stones at the Lapidary Museum. The stones date back to Roman times, many are ancient grave markers. Many featured the symbol, which could be seen hundreds of times, obviously holding great significance and importance in Roman Narbonne.

When beginning design work for my flora and fauna series I began to consider incorporating Eguzkilore into one piece. The more I considered it, the more I thought what a good idea it was to theme one piece around the symbolism of the Eguzkilore and pay homage to the traditions of my beloved Languedoc-Roussillon.

When sketching for the piece I decided to draw the image of the Eguzkilore blooming in the wild, not dried and nailed to a door, however as far as I'm concerned the symbolism is still the same. When contemplating insects to feature in the composition I quickly decided on the cicada, as this is another strong symbol of the Languedoc-Roussillon region. I first saw a ceramic cicada in Aigue Mortes and wondered what on earth it meant, and the more I looked, the more of them i saw. It turns out the cicada, like Eguzkilore is a symbol of protection and against bad luck, but in the wider world the cicada is also represents resurrection, immortality and spirituality.
As a second insect it felt apt to include the Scarabaeidae commonly known as the Scarab beetle. The Beetle is one of the most well known symbolic insects in the world and of course represented the sun in ancient Egyptian culture. I felt this reaffirmed the symbolism of the Eguzkilore and ensured the piece was tied in with the sun, light and protection from evil.

The symbolism of this piece is so important to me because it pays homage to an ancient tradition which for many is a hidden piece of history only there for those willing to look. For me the symbol of the Eguzkilore represents the region I have come to love and adore so much. Its layers of history, its warmth and positivity and the richness and depth of culture waiting for those willing to scratch the surface. 'Evil, be gone ...' pays tribute to history, tradition and all things Languedoc-Roussillon.

Art in focus: 'The Moon'

In Tarot 'The Moon' has several different meanings; fear, bewilderment, intuition, dreams. The list is rather long, and most of the connotations are negative, as the Moon illuminates your path, but his light is a reflection of the sun, not his own, so is his guidance an illusion or deception? The Moon sees the shadowy corners of your mind and knows what lurks in your sub-conscious. But The Moon also represents intuition and psychic power, follow your instincts and the moon will not lead you astray.

The traditional imagery used to depict 'The Moon' is largely unchanged from Tarots birth to modern day. The moon looks down on the earth, raining life giving rays and dew down to the ground. Between two towers sit a wolf, dog and crayfish. The crayfish is emerging from a pool which symbolises the development of consciousness, the dog and wolf represent the tame and wild sides of our minds and personalities, and a path  leads out into the distance, showing the journey you must take to reach a higher consciousness.

My interpretation of the moon purposefully has a different approach to the typical depiction of the card. Imagery of the crayfish, wolf and dog are used to reflect primal elements, evolution, different sides of our personality and the ancient fear of what lurks in the darkness. But I wanted to represent my own feelings about the night far more, and draw on the idea that everybody exposes their shadow self, their true inner feelings in the dark silence of night, which is exactly what the figures are doing.
An uninhibited celebration and embracing of basic human instincts and nature. A ritualistic, frenzied, honest appreciation of the twilight hours, and the moon. They do not fear the night, they embrace it together. I also wanted to weave the myth of 'lunacy' into the design somewhere, and that is represented by the idea that an observer may think that the figures are suffering from lunacy, but from their perspective (and the moons) they are worshiping the moon, the life he brings to the earth and each other. The figures lunar ritual is taking place within standing stones, suggesting that their practices, appreciation and basic primal instincts are ancient, almost as old as the moon itself.

When designing this card, the face of my moon felt very important. I chose to make my moon masculine (where most moons are feminine) as I was forever looking for the man in the moon as a child. I wanted my moon to represent the different phases and faces of the moon, his full face with a pleasant, contented happiness, his half face with a sad, low grimace and his sickle, almost imperceptible nothing more than a glimmer of light, seen, appreciated and understood by few. All of these emotions are a part of him and make him whole. Like the feelings of many humans (myself included) his emotions are often fractured, and the happy face he shows the world may not always be how he genuinely feels. Here he is out in full, presenting himself in all his glory to his admirers. They see every emotion of his face, for he has no reason to hide it from them, they celebrate him as a whole, loving his happiness, madness and sorrow, just as they accept their own.

'The Moon' felt to be a very important card for me personally, so I gave it great consideration when producing initial sketches. I have a long held fascination and obsession with our satellite, I spent hours looking at its craters through my telescope as a child, I had posters of moon maps on my walls as a teenager,  and I still enjoy looking up at the moon and admiring the face of my old friend still looking back at me.     

The Unholy Trinity

My latest artwork series 'The Unholy Trinity' is finally complete. The series has been a long running project over a number of months based around photographs I took of a rescued Great Grey Owl, courtesy of Kilton Raptor Rescue.

Spending tome with the captivatingly beautiful Great Grey Owl formed the basis for a series of characters I developed based around the different perspectives and 'faces' of the owl. Each character in the series has its own unique personality and a different part to play in the great story that is life. All of the characters within 'The Unholy Trinity' carry different supernatural powers and play their own role in the balance of the universre, be it the power of prophecy and predection, the third eye and the gift of the second sight or the blessing off boundless wisdom. The true message of 'The Unholy Trinity' is; Follow your future, live your dreams, play the part, you were born to be. 

'The Unholy Trinity' are now available to purchase as cards from my Etsy store at:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/DanseMacabreUK?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Eguzkilore

A curious sight in the Cathar village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert interested me greatly; a sunflower nailed to a front door was something Id never witnessed before, and sparked a great degree of intrigue. After extensive research I discovered that these were called 'Eguzkilore'.

Derived from an ancient tradition, the custom is scarcely mentioned or explained in texts, however it appears to have come from the Basque region, and is deeply rooted in French and Spanish folklore. 'Eguzki' (sun) and 'lore' (flower), (literally 'Sunflower' in Basque language), are actually dried silver thistles, and are traditionally believed to bring good fortune to the house which they adorn. In folklore it is believed that the Eguzkilore represents the sun and its power, which includes protecting a house during the hours of darkness, and warding off evil spirits, devils and witches. This tradition appears to be born out of Basque paganism, which existed in the Western Pyrenees before the arrival of Christianity in the region.
It is wonderful to see this old custom, which is clearly deeply rooted in Pyrenees tradition, survived today through the people of Saint Guillem la Desert.