"Bean Sídhe" - A Banshee for Halloween 2015!

"Bean Sídhe" - the Irish Gaelic woman of the barrows, the wailing woman, the fairy spirit heralding death, or as common culture calls her now, the Banshee... She is an ancient apparition, often one being tied to an old Irish family, or house, making there supposedly be many banshees for the many strong old tribes throughout the country.
According to myth, this particular spirit is either that of a woman who has died in childbirth, fated to play the grim role until the time she would have died of natural causes, or, a woman who has been murdered, or brutally killed.
Often robed in green or grey, she is fairly silent in solitude, dwelling like a foreboding presence, until, should someone in the family approach death, she breaks the night with chilling screams and wails.

Her association with the screech owl is a possible origin for the myth.

I liked the idea of her sudden screaming voice coming to life to be the cause of her suddenly lurching forward from her shadowy garb consumed by terror. As if trapped, she'll soon return to her hooded robes, silent once more, after death.
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Final art is available!

If you've been following along on my Instagram - Mairintaj_InMediasRes - the behind-the-scenes process will look familiar, but the rest of the imagery following is debuting here, freshly finished, never before seen online.

Here's how I started this little seasonal vision:

1. Jump straight in on hot press with graphite:

Phase One, Graphite, 2015

Phase Two, Graphite, 2015

2. Throw on some veils of watercolor washes, building up the values to the right degree, then block in the flesh tones and richer values, colors with acrylic and colored pencil:

Phase Three, Graphite, Watercolor, Acrylic, Colored Pencil, 2015

{And I realize I'm jumping ahead here, conveniently}
3. Whittle away, through the ugly phases, into the tightening up and the final details, until it's done...To gloss over the sweaty, hard work nicely:

"Bean Sídhe" - Banshee - Final Art, Mixed Media, 5x7", 2015

The bean sídhe's detail shot, wailing, 2015

5. Find the right frame! {An understated challenge at times, but not this time, happily}

Framed, In the Studio, Now Available for Purchase, 2015

Framed, In the Studio, 2015

"Bean Sídhe" - Banshee - will be available for purchase in the premier Artists' Open Studio Auction by Strange Dreams Surreal Art Collective this Sunday, November 1st through 7th - so the first week of the month.

*Follow my social media for release of availability and open auction information!

**Find me and regular information on my Facebook Page HERE

And as always, contact me directly HERE - or please comment below! - for any questions, comments, or work interest.

Welsh Trilogy - Drawing Three {Owl} - "Blodeuwedd" 'Flower Face' Owl goddess of Spring {And Final Triptych}

{To learn more about the background of this trilogy inspiration, content material, mythological context, and over all goal, Read the first blog post of this series - "drawing one" - featuring Arawn, Lord of the Underworld, HERE
...
Read the second blog post of this series - "drawing two" - featuring Rhiannon, goddess of Horses and the Hunt, HERE}

*The triptych of all finished works will be shown at the end.

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Our last installment, and our last drawn Welsh immortal, is Blodeuwedd.

Pronounced arguably as 'blod-EYE-weth' or 'blo-day-wathe', she was created from the flowers of oak, broom, and meadowsweet blooms by two great magicians to be the most beautiful bride for the great hero Lleu Llaw Gyffes. Her name means 'flower-face', essentially.

Over the course of her story, she is transformed once more, this time into an owl, as punishment, to forever roam the night.

And in some cases, Bloduewedd is considered the goddess of Spring and owls, maintaining a vital and shape-shifting aspect to her persona, associated with the archetypal 'white goddess'.

Blodeuwedd, 'flower face' Owl goddess of Spring, 2015

Each piece in the trilogy set is drawn in graphite on soft deckled Rives BFK, 10x13" (full page), 8x10" (live area).

Blodeuwedd was completed in two days, breaking down to roughly 16 hours, not including the initial two inch gesture sketch, as seen below:

Original two inch rough concept thumbnail, on the drawing board, 2015

Laying in the values, on the drawing board, Studio shot, 2015

I work fairly loosely to start, building the inner structure of the figure I am creating with light curving strokes. I find this relaxing, and helpful to shape the grace of the human form in organic patterns or marks.

My mark making and linear work is quite confident, so you can see, in the above image, that I've found the likeness of the body fairly quickly, by eye, and I'm laying in the values immediately afterwards, building the flesh up meticulously, but easily. It's all about edges, here! 

I wanted Blod to have a kind of poised and slightly reticent quality, particularly about her face, as she is more inclined to the shadows with those owl eyes and plumage-speckled change.

With her environment and her magical origin so clearly rooted in the forested and floral world, foliage seemed a good framework for her negative space, in the drawing.

Final drawing, Detail, Graphite, 2015

And, although the order in which I drew them is how I've posted them, their intended order as a final visual trilogy set, as seen below in the original mock up, is as follows:

Original two inch vertical scale sketches, in order (triptych), Graphite, 2015

Final Artwork - "Welsh Immortals - A Mabinogion Trilogy" - Triptych, Graphite, 2015

And the final collection - "Welsh Immortals - A Mabinogion Trilogy".

Original drawings available for pre-sale only, at this time.

Art Prints of the graphite drawings are available for purchase now - Browse and order here

Full color paintings will be completed at the same size, also available for purchase as finished art-prints, also available now for pre-sale - Contact me directly, HERE

If you would like to see more, or have any comments to contribute to the project, please share below in the comments section! I'm always interested in feedback. 

For now,

As always,

-Mairin-Taj

Welsh Trilogy - Drawing Two {Horse} - "Rhiannon, Goddess of Horses and the Hunt"

{To learn more about the background of this trilogy inspiration, content material, mythological context, and over all goal, Read the first blog post of this series - "drawing one" - featuring Arawn, Lord of the Underworld, HERE}

As I've said in the first installment, I'll be sharing the collective process of each of the other two works of this series separately, in their own posts, once they are likewise completed.

So now, our first of the two remaining characters, immortals, both female - Rhiannon.

She is evocative, elusive, and tauntingly ethereal queen archetype, goddess of horses and the hunt, related to the Gaulish horse goddess Epona.

Introduced in the first branch of the Mabinogion, Rhiannon cleverly catches the attention of Pwyll, the Prince of Dyfed (West Wales) as a marvel appearing on sacred ground. Mesmerized and encouraged by her rare quality, who tries to catch her for days, though she perpetually remains ahead of him, magically ambling along on her shining white steed. 

With political prowess, Rhiannon chooses Pwyll as her consort over another to whom she is already betrothed.

The queenly Rhiannon and prince Pwyll's son is Pryderi, the hero of the realm, who inherits his father's lordship of the west. The mare-like goddess and her foal son are both associated with the horse totem.

With this trilogy series, I am making a totemic connection between mythological figures and their corresponding animals, because, in these Celtic origins, Nature is married irrevocably with human experience.

So Rhiannon is golden and fair, like the white steed for which she is known to appear upon, and horse-eared.

Rhiannon, Goddess of Horses and the Hunt, 2015

As with Arawn, for the trilogy set, Rhiannon is drawn in graphite on soft deckled Rives BFK, 10x13" (full page), 8x10" (live area).

She was drawn in about 15 hours over the course of two and a half days:

Original two inch rough concept thumbnail, 2015

Laying in the values, on the drawing board, Studio shot, 2015

I wanted Rhiannon to have a posture and an attitude that was reminiscent of those playful, forceful gestures horses make with their necks as they toss their heads and look back at you.

I liked the idea of how, when horses do such things, it can be beautiful, alluring, and equally uncertain as to whether they are feigning or truly ready to demonstrate their muscular power.

I worked the 's' curve into her stance, and emphasized the shapes within her, because I wanted to admire her anatomy the way we admire similar forms in horse anatomy - The arch in the neck, the curving groove of the back, the roundness of the hip bone... And of course let's not forget the great mane; Rhiannon needed to have great waves of wildly flowing golden hair.

Final Drawing, Detail, Graphite, 2015

The next and lastly drawn member of this Immortals trilogy is the Owl...

Follow up with the final installment of this trilogy series blog post for not only a break down of the Owl, but also a look at all three finished graphite drawings together, triptych style.

And Art Prints are available for purchase HERE

Coming up next!

-Mairin-Taj

Welsh Trilogy - Drawing One {Dog} - "Arawn, Lord of the Underworld"

I've decided to blog about these three pieces of the Welsh series in three stages, or chunks.

I've concluded the conceptual, reference, and drawing processes of this first piece, and am eager to share the final, full entry version at length; if you've been following along on my process feed on Instagram or FB, you'll recognize some of these, but the series warrants a bit more in depth development of conceptual origin and the ultimate goal.

I'll be sharing the collective process of each of the other two works of this series separately, in their own posts, once they are likewise completed.

So, to start, 'Welsh Trilogy'...

My roots in inspiration for illustration come from my infatuation with mythology. I'm prone to the celtic stories, myself. The Welsh mythos, detailing similarly naturalistic iconography to that of the Irish and Scottish cultures, is well encapsulated, for the most part, in the Mabinogion.

I've mentioned the Mabinogion in my recent post about "What I'm (Re)Reading", which you can catch up on HERE.

But in short, the Mabinogion is a collection of stories expressing various branches of Welsh mythology, describing the deeds and events around key ancient heroes, heroines, and villains. The noble protagonists and antagonists of the stories are generally the archaic gods of Wales, if not legendary humans, roaming the land.

One of these classic characters is Arawn, Lord of the Underworld, a removed realm known as Annwn. Arawn of Annwn is a kind of king figure, who presides with wisdom over his land, and interacts with the human, living world as if it were a neighboring country. In early British myth, the symbols of the Underworld, or the Otherworld, and of healing, ushering, or death archetypes, are large white hounds with red ears.

As with the other two works for this trilogy series, I am making a totemic connection between mythological figures and their corresponding animals, because, in these Celtic origins, Nature is married irrevocably with human experience.

For Arawn, Lord of the Underworld, his animal is the white and red-eared dog, and he'll be portrayed in shadow, with the white and red-tipped ears, holding a precious golden apple, key to his realm.

Here is the drawing for the piece:

Arawn, Lord of Annwn, Dog of the Underworld, 2015.

There will be three final drawings on soft deckled 100% cotton Rives BFK, 10x13", and then there will be three final paintings, full color, of the same size.

Here are break down snap shots of the behind the scenes process for this drawing:

Preliminary Sketch, graphite on paper, 2 1/2x3 1/2"

Early Stages, Final Graphite Drawing, 8x10" Live Area

Laying in the values of the negative space, Graphite, Studio Shot, 2015.

Final Drawing, Detail, "Arawn of Annwn" - Back and Apple, 2015

In the meantime, I'll give you a clue to the remaining two pieces in the trilogy: horse, and owl.

This is a fun and intriguing project to work on, and I am eager to see them all to the painting stage!

If you would like to see more, or have any comments to contribute to the project, please share below in the comments section! I'm always interested in feedback.

Find more process information and current work on my Instagram page - I post a lot of imagery about my work and my travel there - Find me at Mairin-Taj Caya - In Medias Res

-Mairin-Taj