Niddhog

It is now only two weeks until Spring Fling,our open studio event across Dumfries and Galloway.Though if I take off next weekend as we're away for a swimming competition in Sunderland, the afternoon at the hairdressers to make myself look presentable for visitors!!!,a visit to the Spring Fling Taster exhibition at Annan on Friday 18th with a friend and various other family activities then time is short.

My lists are helping in keeping me organised and jobs/chores prioritised.My  studio is in my house,the dining room to be exact,so  there is plenty to do and stuff to move so I can welcome visitors. 

One piece that will be on show is a canvas that I recently revisited and reworked . It's entitled Niddhog. Nidhogg is  the serpent who lives at the base of Yggdrasil, the Norse world tree and gnaws away at its roots. In this piece however, I've used him in the form of a rock carving and placed him in a landscape. My landscape emerges from plaster, hessian,gesso,modelling paste,soft pastel and acrylic paint.This image gives an idea of how it looks however in real life it appears dynamic and 3-dimensional.....

 

The Four Stags

Many creatures live in Yggdrasil, the tree in Norse mythology which links the worlds of the giants,men and hell.Four stags live among the branches nibbling its leaves.....

 
This work was originally lighter however I decided it required some changes.It's a canvas measuring 40 x 40cm layered with gesso and sand. Layers of acrylic paint were added in a variety of ways then acrylic ink dripped and dribbled.Soft pastel and silver leaf were used to highlight and finally wax was run down for added texture and depth. It now sits in a floating frame and looks three-dimensional-one of my favourites...... 

Weaving and Spinning...

'In the ebb & flow,
In warp & weft,
Cradle & grave,
An eternal sea,
A changing patchwork,
A glowing life.
At the whirring loom of time I weave
The living clothes of the Deity'

Goethe,'Faust'.
 
In all mythologies,the art of weaving is originally found in the divine world. Some small mistake must always be woven into the pattern to remind us of imperfection in all created life.

In spinning our own lives,intertwined threads woven together become our own tapestry of life...and we have the ability to create,and make something using those threads of fate.....

This is one of the panels in my completed box-work 'Verdandi'.I've used mod roc on hessian mounted on plyboard. The relief shape is made of sand and modelling paste with Egyptian paste beads.Acrylic paint and inks were then layered...The image is based on a Viking calendar stick which marks important dates and events but is also symbolic for the passing of time...