The Greening of Oaks and Circles of Birds...

Circles of Oaks and Feathers - For Alexis

 It seems like a really long time since I posted here, and there have been so many things that would have been nice to post if I'd had a little more time. Some things I probebly still will if it means walking back in time a bit, I have some Tales of Wales from our week away in early May, and perhaps some Dragon Tails too!
But for now, I will show you this little painting I did this week as a present for a dear friend on her birthday...

 I really enjoy this kind of work and get lost in the making of patterns and the simplicity of it. When I'm working on a big, serious illustration I can get quite stressed and anxious about the painting of it and often have to keep dragging myself back to the drawing board. But with this Kells style work it is sheer enjoyment and I often find I am smiling away to myself as I paint. A nice way to make a present for a friend!

Hopefully in the next day or so if I can wrest the time, I will post the May sunshine walk that inspired this painting and filled me up with the vibrancy of green growing things, and the awe inspiring freedom of the sky dwellers... It has been just what my soul needed!
So, for now I will leave you with a song I have loved for a long time - usually in a high energy electric rock, but I have just disovered this great acoustic version which holds the spirit of the song even better...
Bye for now...

'Red Kite I,' sunflashing wings from a pot of gold...

I've been enjoying doing the odd Kells style bird lately - inspired from the wonderful Book of Kells, you've seen a few here already. I got the old metal leaf out for this one...! (a heck of a lot cheaper than real gold for experimenting!) I'm not sure what the little ivory handled tool was for originally, but its great for embossing the gold. Some of those original ancient illuminated manuscripts must have had gilding...

Since our recent trip to Wales a few weeks back the magnificent Red Kite has been brushing my thoughts with sun flashing wingtips and wilderness cries on the wind...
I thought it would be interesting to try and see if I could stylise one in the Kells way, but I was torn between being faithful to the natural markings of the real bird or digressing to the more decorative elements you see in the fantastical Book of Kells birds.
I ended up going for somewhere in the middle but had mixed feelings throughout really about whether I've captured anything of the spirit of this beautiful bird or just ended up with a rather over-decorative design...
What do you think?

I think I'm going to make this 'Red Kite I' and maybe do a short series to see where it goes... I did enjoy making him...

Using the metal leaf was interesting, I hadn't tried that before but we had some in the workshop so it made its way home and into my painting. I embossed a little design on the sun with the ivory handled tool in the first pic.
Then of course I had to try all kinds of angles to try and photograph it, trickier than I thought!

This last pictures a bit murky but does show up how bright the gold shines when the light strikes it... I think if I ever had prints made of this kind of thing I would hand embellish them with the metal leaf to keep that effect.
I really must put aside the playing around with Celtica soon and get on with some serious work, there are several projects that have been waiting far too long!
I would be interested to hear what you make of my Red Kite and the gold though, do please feel free to comment freely!

Kites flying and flying kites...

Here's another little Kells inspired bird I painted while we were in Wales the other week, though I have it in mind to try stylising a Red Kite into one of these.
The first Red Kite I ever saw was on a little mountain road the first time we went to Wales several years ago. It swooped up on a thermal so close from behind a dry stone wall right beside us in the car... I've been in love with them ever since and always associate them with the rocky green wildness of Wales. This last time I was really pleased that we saw seven Red Kites on separate occassions along the coastal roads, all their lovely markings underlit by the sun and that splendid V-shaped tail. I have a love for birds of prey in general but the Kite really is magnificent!

And so, I know its a poor link... but it was my eldest daughter's Seventh Birthday today! How time flies, it really does!
We always seem to end up flying our kites after all the party guests have gone home on the first of May in the big field across the lane by our house, and today Elora flew hers all by herself for the first time - hooray for being seven!


Even little sister gave it a fair shot bless her, with a little help from Grandma!

Hope you manage to make the most of the May Day bank holiday tomorrow :)

And the winner is...

I decided to roll a dice to find the winner of my Kells Bird Giveaway... We have quite a lot of multi sided dice knocking around at our house so I thought it would give this runic set a good excuse to get used again!
And so the winner is... number 4.... Christina, of Mermaid in the attic! Which means it will be going all the way to Australia... quite a flight for a small bird!
Well done Christina, and thankyou to all of you who left a comment, its always so nice to read your kind words - sorry you couldn't all get to win, but I'm sure I'll do another Giveaway at some future point... Thanks again everyone!

Windsongs and Wordhoards is one year old... time for a Giveaway!

This week happens to complete the circle of my first year of blogging (29th of March to be precise!)! It seems there is a bit of a tradition of having a giveaway on such occasions and I really rather like the gesture of that, so... I have spent this week painting a little something to give away...
It's a little original watercolour of a 'Book of Kells' inspired bird, you can see my lovely big 1970's first edition on my desk giving inspration as I painted it...
I really enjoy painting celtica, I can see what the monks got out of it I think... I just get happily lost in the hours, brush and water, seeing empty pencil lines slowly come to life with colour.

I got a bit carried away and triple mounted it too! (It's a handy thing as an artist to also run a framing business!)
So if you would like a chance to win this bright little creature, please leave me a comment on this post and I'll put you all in the hat to draw a winner next week!
Whoever wins it, its a way for me to say a huge thankyou to all of you who drop by here for a visit, encouraging me with your kind comments and showing an interest in my creative endeavours.

I began this blog to motivate myself to keep nurturing my art in a life that's become so busy I was in danger of losing my connection to it altogether, and to keep alive my aspirations of becoming an illustrator one day.
But in this strange world of like minded strangers I found much more than I expected. Discovering and visiting all of you I am constantly inspired, reassured and feel although I haven't met any of you in person that I've made some real friends here. It is such a vibrant, creative community of minds, I feel I am not striving alone.
So thankyou, everyone and I hope you like my little bird!

My beloved books of old...

I have always had a great love for old books, the more well worn the better - the feel and the smell of them, the hand printed words pouring through your fingers as you flick through the brittle pages. There's something about holding these books with their smooth, worn decorated covers that you just don't feel with a modern new book... for me anyway...
So, I just acquired a little old book of Norse Legends, which has inspired me to share with you some of the other favourite old books I have on my shelf...
Here's the new one, it had a rather nice little quote on the opening page that was a nice surprise to find...
Another beautifully decorated title page from a book of Coleridge also has a nice quote...
(Click the picture to enlarge...)


Here's one of my favourite little books, my beloved Mabinogion full of the strange quirky Celtic tales of Welsh legend and of the oldest Arthur - no Victorian romantic chivalry here, but darkly chaotic tales of Kilhwch and Olwen and the Twrch Trwyth - the Otherworldly Boar, the Wild Hunt, strange manifestations, Giants, Hags, impossible quests and the birth of Taliesin the World's greatest Bard, formally the boy Gwion who shapeshifted many times fleeing the witch Ceridwen whoses cauldron of knowledge he had tended.
She eventually caught him when he shapeshifted into a grain of corn on the threshing floor and she into a black hen that swallowed him. In truly Celtic fashion she gave birth to him again nine months later, but he was so beautiful she couldn't bring herself to kill him, so set him adrift on the ocean in a leather bag to the mercy of Manawyddan of the Sea. He was washed up in the fishing weir of the unlucky Elphin where even as a babe he spouted the wisdom of all his previous incarnations... I could go on (and on!) Deserves a post all of its own really!


Here is a rather beautifully illustrated book of Siegfried the Dragon Slayer - this one was quite expensive for me at the time but the colour plates inside are more than worth it!


This is a really great leather book cover I was given as a gift by someone who knows exactly what I'm interested in!

And finally the utterly stunning Book of Kells...


This is a very large book with beautiful detail. I've had it a good ten years or so but everytime I look at it I see something new, there's just so much hidden away within the text, I absolutely love it!
I particularly love the details you can see like this stitched repair in the vellum. I would love to see the real thing one day, and perhaps the Lindesfarne Gospels and the Yellow Book of Lecan as well... long shot! I can only hope...

Anyway this was either a really interesting post or a really boring one depending on how much you love old battered books! I certainly enjoyed digging them all out anyway!