Folktale Week Illustrations: Dawn - The Firebird and the Maiden of Dawn

The Maiden of Dawn and the Firebird, 11" x 14" linocut print by Ele Willoughby, 2025

I look forward to it every year! It's time for Folktale Week. Hosts post their 7 prompts for artists and/or writers to create illustrations or tell stories on these themes inspired by folktales, folklore, fables, myth and fairytales! There’s always a lot of magic submissions and it’s open to all. Most of the action is on Instagram (see @folktaleweek for more information) but you can find artists and writers sharing on other socials too. I am going to post my new illustrations here. And now the final day, Day 7: Dawn.

Here is The Maiden of the Dawn & the Firebird inspired by Edmund Dulac's retelling of a Russian Fairytale.

A Prince is prophesied to fly away on the Firebird on his 15th birthday & marry the Maiden of the Dawn. So the King imprisons him in a luxurious tower prison & holds an elaborate 15th birthday, without him. 

Frustrated, the Prince escapes by the window to the garden, unobserved by the guards enjoying the festival. At the edge of the garden he found a cave, illuminated by a giant bird. In the crystal pool below he saw an image of a beautiful Princess & fell in love. The bird indicated that he should climb aboard & they flew thousands of miles to a beautiful crystal palace at the Home of Dawn with the beautiful Princess asleep in the garden. The prince alighted & failed to wake the Princess. They returned the next night, to no avail but on the 3rd night she awoke at dawn as the Firebird stopped to pluck & give her a feather before leaving the Prince with her. They fell instantly in love & blissfully wandered the garden together. 

But her evil jealous sister enchanted the Prince & his body fell as if dead. The sorrowful Princess kissed his lips, which trembled & she understood her wicked sister must have enchanted him. In desperation she searched the palace then remembered the feather & used it to call the Firebird & fly far west to a cave. There her sister the witch was singing by her cauldron containing the Prince's heart. The Princess rushed forward, overturning the cauldron; the icy brine splashed the witch, killing her. The Princess grasped the frozen heart to her chest & they flew home. 

As they reached their destination, the Princess realized the heart had melted & was gone! Terrified she rushed onward. The Firebird alighted on the roof & the Prince himself came out to greet them. They embraced & she understood that his heart was back where it belonged in his chest, beating against hers. The Firebird's work was done & he flew away, but returned to circle their garden for their wedding, & brought them a feather each anniversary. They ruled as King & Queen of the People of the Dawn for many years & lived joyfully together.

Folktale Week Illustrations: Charm and East of the Sun, West of the Moon

I look forward to it every year! It's time for Folktale Week. Hosts post their 7 prompts for artists and/or writers to create illustrations or tell stories on these themes inspired by folktales, folklore, fables, myth and fairytales! There’s always a lot of magic submissions and it’s open to all. Most of the action is on Instagram (see @folktaleweek for more information) but you can find artists and writers sharing on other socials too. I am going to post my new illustrations here. And now Day 5: Charm.

My 8" x 10" hand-carved and hand-printed lino block print illustration of the beloved fairytale East of the Sun, West of the Moon shows the bewitched polar bear prince holding the charm, a magic silver bell along with his bride with the aurora in the night sky beyond them. Printed in dark blue ink, with fluorescent green northern lights, pink cheeks and silver bell, on lovely, delicate, Japanese paper.

The Norwegian fairytale tells of a bewitched polar bear who persuades a peasant to grant him his youngest and prettiest daughter's hand in marriage, promising riches in return. The kindly bear makes her a magnificent castle, and presents her with a magic silver bell that she can use to summon him. He is able to return to his man form at night, but only appears to his bride after she extinguishes the light, so she never gets to see his original form. Feeling homesick, she asks to visit her family; the bear grants her wish on the condition she never be alone with her mother. Her mother makes persistent attempts to speak with her privately, and when she succeeds and hears her daughter's tale, she assumes the bear must be a troll and tells her daughter to light her candle at night and check.

When the daughter examines her husband she falls in love with the handsome prince asleep in bed whom she accidentally awakes. He explains he has been cursed by his wicked stepmother the witch-queen. Had his wife not seen his true form for a full year the curse would be broken, but now he go to witch-queen's palace which is east of the sun, west of the moon and he must marry the witch's daughter. 

The young wife then goes on a long quest to find and rescue her husband and free him from the curse. It's a wonderful tale of courage, kindness and adventure and she ultimately frees her prince.

Folktale Week Illustrations: Book - The Master and His Pupil

The Master and His Pupil, 8" x 10" hand-tinted linocut print by Ele Willoughby, 2025

 

I look forward to it every year! It's time for Folktale Week. Hosts post their 7 prompts for artists and/or writers to create illustrations or tell stories on these themes inspired by folktales, folklore, fables, myth and fairytales! There’s always a lot of magic submissions and it’s open to all. Most of the action is on Instagram (see @folktaleweek for more information) but you can find artists and writers sharing on other socials too. I am going to post my new illustrations here. And now Day 4: Book.

My hand-tinted linocut illustrates the English fairytale ‘The Master and His Pupil.’

A learned man of the north lands who knew all the languages of the world and mysteries of creation, had a big black book with iron lock chained to a table and forbidden to all others which contained the secrets of the spiritual world including details of angels and demons. 

His pupil and servant was a foolish lad, barely allowed into the same room as the book. One day when the master was out the curious pupil snuck into the room keen to investigate the magical and alchemical objects but he got nowhere without knowing the magical words hidden in the book. He noticed the master had forgotten to lock the book and he rushed over to read it! He could understand little but he sounded out the words and the room turned dark and there was a clap of thunder and the demon Beelzebub appears with glowing eyes, breathing fire. “Set me a task!” the demon roared, and threatened to harm him. Frantically the boy looked around and noticed the geranium. “Water yon flower!” he cried.

The demon left and returned with a barrel of water, he poured on the flower. And then he left and returned with more and more barrels, flooding the room. The boy pleaded with him to stop but he didn’t know the right words and the demon gleefully continued till the water rose so high that the boy climbed onto the table. The water continued to rise higher and higher and would have flooded all of Yorkshire had the master not recalled that he had left the book unlocked and he returned home as the water reached the boy’s chin. He spoke the right magic words and banished Beelzebub back to his fiery home!

This story has ancient roots, and can be linked to the Sorcerer's Apprentice, but I chose this version because it focuses on the book.

My Folklore Week 2023 Illustrations

Once again I took part in Folktale Week this year! There's fabulous and magical illustrations from artists worldwide; check out #FolktaleWeek2023 on Instagram (plus hashtags for each prompt of the form FolktaleWeek + prompt). The prompts this year were: lost, ink, sea, sleep, underground, illusion, and found. I've decided I can interpret "folktale" loosely to include fairytales, legends, myths and folklore.

For lost, I knew I wanted to make the Minotaur in his labyrinth, with the slightest hint of the first person to avoid getting lost: Theseus with his ball of string.

The Minotaur in his Labyrinth, linocut, 9.25" x 12.5" by Ele Willoughby, 2023

 

Ink was a real challenge! I had a few ideas but in the end, opted for a Japanese yokai, a sort of supernatural spirit called suzuri no tamashii. Specifically it’s a type of yokai called a tsukumogami, a type of spirit which can arise from an object which is used for 100 years, when it comes alive. 

Suzuri no tamashii, linocut, 9.25" x 12.5", by Ele Willoughby, 2023

The story goes that an ink stone was used to copy the same manuscript over and over again for many generations, about the bloody Genpei War (1180-1185). The 'Akama suzuri,' a top-quality inkstone made specially in Shimonoseki City, began to take on aspects of the story itself. It became possessed by a vengeful spirit of an Ise-Heishi warrior who had been defeated at the Battle of Dannoura, where the Minamoto clan brutally wiped out the entire Taira clan. Phantom sounds like fierce battle, waves on the sea or even a voice narrating "Heike monogatari" (The tale of the Heike) could be heard. Waves rippled on the ink and illusory characters and boats from the story, arose from the ink to wreak havoc on the writing.

As many of the slaughtered Taira soldiers became vengeful spirits or onryō when they died, their grudge-curse infects many ink stones which have been used to repeatedly copy their story.

My print shows an ink stone, ink stick, jar of brushes, and the suzuri no tamashii emerging like two mounted samurai warriors crossing a river from The tale of the Heike. 

Zaratan, linocut, 11" x 14", by Ele Willoughby, 2023

I knew what I wanted to do for sea; I've long wanted to illustrate the Zaratan, a mythical giant sea turtle  that looks like a small island! There's a small campfire on the supposed beach, and a sailing ship from the age of exploration nearby. The sunset sky is in vibrant fuchsia, tangerine and purple.

"There is a story that is told in all lands and throughout all history - the story of sailors who go ashore on an unknown island that later sinks and drowns them, for the island is alive. This imaginary beast-island figures in the first voyage of Sindbad and in the sixth canto of Orlando Furioso (Ch'ella sia usa isoletta ci credemo; "We are all cheated by the floating pile, / And idly take the monster for an isle"); on the Irish legend of St. Brendan and in the Greek bestiary of Alexandria; in the Swedish curate Olaf Magnus' History of the Northern Nations (Rome, 1555) and in the passage in Paradise Lost, Book I, in which the prostrate Satan is compared to a great whale "hap'ly slumbering on the Norway foam."

    -Jorge Luis Borges, The Book of Imaginary Beings (El Libro de Los Seres Imaginarios)

Often depicted as a giant turtle, like the Turtle Island origin myth common to many Indigenous peoples of North America, the Zaratan could in fact be any large marine creature, but I love the idea of a giant turtle.

I found another great Japanese yokai for sleep: the Baku. Some stories about sleep are either familiar fairytales or in fact, a bit grim. I like the mythical Japanese chimera because despite its monstrous appearance, it is the beloved eater of nightmares. It was made from leftover parts, with the body of a bear, the claws of a tiger, the tail of a cow, the trunk and tusks of an elephant with the ears and eyes of a rhinoceros! You can call on it if you have bad dreams. A child who awakes from a nightmare will cry, “Baku-san, come eat my dream!” three times and the baku will enter their room to devour the bad dream so they can go back to sleep. They must be careful however, not too call too often, least they get a hungry baku who will also eat their dreams.

Today the word baku can also apply to a real animal, the Malayan tapir, because of its arguable resemblance to the mythical animal.

I thought my blue origami paper would make a great comforter so I made 8 different variations!

Baku, linocut, 9.25" x 12.5" by Ele Willoughby, 2023

The idea I had for underground was the Aos sí, the people of the Sidhe, the Fair Folk of Ireland, who according to legend live beneath mounds in fairy forts underground. I have not yet editioned this print, but I plan to add it to my shop soon! You may know the banshee, or Bean sídhe or woman of the sídhe. In fact the very word Sídhe is the term for earthen mounds like the one in my linocut and the Aos sí are “the people of mounds.” The Sidhe evolved from a mythological people known as the Tuatha De Danaan, powerful, magical semi-divine beings, who feature in many early Irish tales. When the ancestors of the Irish, the Gaels arrived they battled over the Emerald Isle. The way the story was told to me was that neither force could conquer the other and they decided to divide Ireland evenly between them. If you look at Ireland it’s quite an irregular shape and the only way to split it evenly was top and bottom with the Gaels occupying the upper world and the Tuatha De Danaan taking the lower world.

They’re known as the daoine sí or daoine sìth in Scots Gaelic and we get the the idea of fairies from the fair folk, but our inherited Victorian ideas and images of fairies are much gentler, sweeter and cuter than these fierce beings who are benevolent if treated with respect but are known to react cruelly if mistreated. 

The Sidhe, linocut, 11" x 14" by Ele Willoughby, 2023

For illusion, I chose a beautiful French fairytale: La Chatte Blanche, published by Madame d’Aulnoy in 1698.

A king is worried about succession and sends his three sons on quests to determine who will inherit the kingdom (or rather to distract them on that pretence, to avoid being deposed by an impatient prince). First they must find the smallest and most beautiful dog. They each go their own way and the youngest finds a fantastical castle filled with intelligent talking cats. He is quite taken by their beautiful white cat queen who mysteriously wears a locket with a image which looks just like him. He stays a full year and she gives him an acorn for his quest. Returning home he opens the acorn for his father and inside is the tiniest dancing dog. Despite clearly having won the contest, the king starts another: find the finest muslin which can be drawn through the eye of a needle. The princes go out again; the youngest returns to the white cat for another year and she gives him a walnut with nested series of smaller seeds, the tiniest containing magically fine and beautiful muslin. His magical muslin is clearly the winner. The king sets a third task to find the most beautiful princess bride. After a third stay with the cats, the beloved white cat convinces the prince, to his horror, to chop off her head. But when he does the fairy enchantment is broken and she is revealed as a beautiful princess cursed by fairies so that she and those in her kingdom must live as cats unless her forbidden lover’s doppelgänger cuts off her head. It was all an illusion!

She reigned over six kingdoms so after the triple wedding of the three princes, succession is solved as she grants brothers and father each kingdoms to rule and she and her husband the youngest prince rule the remaining three.

La Chatte Blanche, linocut, 9.25" x 12.5", by Ele Willoughby, 2023

 

I wanted to make sure I included a Canadian folktale this year. So often the folktales we hear are from Europe, but I wanted one from closer to home. I selected the Mermaid of the Magdalenes for the prompt "found." I loved that the found thing as something as prosaic as a tin of sardines, that this is a fairytale about my May Day birthday and about the perils of not preserving marine ecology. I still have to print an edition of this print, but I plan to do so soon.

The Mermaid of the Magdalenes, linocut by Ele Willoughby, 11" x 14", 2023

The rugged east coast Magdalene Islands are all but barren of grass and trees, but the waters are rich in fish and people called it the “Kingdom of Fishes”. Traders could grow rich off the bounty of the sea. Long ago when sardines were first canned they were wildly popular. There was a great slaughter of sardines by greedy traders, who packed them in tiny boxes and shipped them all over the world. The tiny sardines were helpless against the onslaught. They saw their fellow sardines killed and their numbers were dwindling. They cried out for help, calling a meeting of all the fishes. There, they convinced their brethren to stand with them and punish those who fished and ate sardines.

On May Day a ship filled with sardine cans was wrecked on the rocks of the Magdalene Islands, its cargo strewn on shore. The daughter of a fish trader found a tin and was delighted, hoping to eat them. But, she was unable to get the can open sang a song of lament.

“I love sardines when they’re boiled with beans
And mixed with the sands of the sea.
I am dying for some.
Will nobody come and open this box for me?”

A disgusted skate heard her but was too timid to punish her. A merman wanted a land wife but he left her ashore because of his oath to the sardines. Finally the black lobster heard her and remembered his oath. He cunningly offered his help only to trick her and he grasped her with his strong claw and dragged her out to sea.

It’s believed he sold her to the merman. But on the 1st of May you can see her off the coast of the island, her glass in hand, looking longingly at shore as she brushes her hair, each year more and more a fish. The fishermen hear her lonely mournful songs and stay ashore least she drag them out to sea for company. 

 I found this story amongst the Canadian Folktales published by Cyrus MacMillan in 1922.

Folktale Week Prints

 I have been neglecting the old blog of late! It's been a busy fall, but I thought I would update you on some of the work I have been making. This year, I decided to participate in Folktale Week. There's always so much wonderful art posted. You should check out @FolktaleWeek on Instagram, or the hashtag #FolktaleWeek2022 to see all the art artists worldwide have created. They create a yearly prompt list for a week in November every year. 

Here's the art I created!

FOOL

An illustration of the fairytale ‘The Three Feathers’ for the first prompt for Folktale Week 2022: Fool. Retold by the Brothers Grimm amongst others, the story tells of a King who needs to decide which of his 3 sons should inherit the crown. The youngest, Dummling (or sometimes even Simpleton) is considered quite the fool by his brothers. The King sends the princes on a series of quests. He drops 3 feathers into the air, telling his sons to take their landing site as a direction to follow. The elder two go off but the 3rd feather falls straight down. First they are tasked with finding a carpet of the finest craftsmanship. The older prices assume any rug they find can beat what Dummling can find in the pond at the base of the tower. But Dummling meats a magical talking toad (King of the Frogs or Toads, depending on the version) who provides a wonderous carpet that the King declares the winner. The older princes insist on more trials; 3 more feathers are dropped & once again Dummling brings a beautiful ring from the magical toad while his brothers underestimate him with their simple rings from farther afield. Again the King chooses Dummling’s offing. The older princes protest that he can’t choose Dummling the Fool, so the King agrees to a 3rd quest: most beautiful bride. The older brothers go follow their feathers but Dummling’s feather goes straight down to the pond where the magical toad has a plan: select a toad. Place her in a hollow turnip as a carriage, pulled by 6 mice. These of course magically become a beautiful (and winning) princess in horse-drawn carriage. The brothers insist on acrobatic trials for the 3 brides. The Frog Princess wins; Dummling becomes a just and peaceful king.

The story begs the question about who were truly the fools! The frog princess in mouse-drawn turnip was an irresistible image!

TREE

Linocut print on washi paper 8" x 10" of the Little Elder Tree Mother by Ele Willougby, 2022

For the #FolktaleWeek2022 prompt “tree” I made a linocut print illustrating ‘The Little Elder Tree Mother’ by Hans Christian Andersen.

In the story a little boy has caught a cold and is sick in bed and his mother brings him a pot of elder tree blossom tea. A kindly old man visits and the boy asks him for a story. The man says he has no stories to tell, and that the stories must come to you. When the boy is impatient the man reassures him that there's a story in the teapot. As they look an elder tree grows out of the teapot, full of blossoms. In the tree appears a kindly looking elderly woman whose dress looks like the blossoms and leaves. The old man tells the story of an elderly couple meeting under an elder tree and revisiting their long life together. The boy complains that this was no fairytale, so the old man suggests he ask the elder tree mother. The elder tree mother takes the boy up into the tree and he experiences the entire dream-like story of life and love of the old man's life. Afterwards the boy doesn't know if he was told the story or dreamed it. His mother says he slept while she argued with the old man about whether the tale was a fairytale. When the boy asks where is the elder tree mother, his mother says she is in the teapot, where she'll remain.

The idea of the Elder-mother, a guardian of elder trees, comes from English and Scandinavian folklore, known as the Danish Hyldemoer ("Elder-Mother") and the Lincolnshire namesake Old Lady and Old Girl. You must ask her permission before using the elder and sometimes she is benevolent but sometimes she is a witch. The elder wood in some folklore is able to ward off lightening or evil.

STAR

Linocut with collaged washi, 11" x 14", 'Kolędnicy' by Ele Willoughby, 2022

My linocut embellished with collaged washi paper for the #FolktaleWeek prompt: Star. This is a procession of Kolędnicy, or Kolęda carollers going through the woods to honour the sun at Winter Solstice. The tradition, also known as Koliada or kolędowanie, dates to pre-Christian times but is now become associated with Christmas and usually celebrated Christmas Eve to Epiphany. This print is inspired by Polish festivals but there are different versions of this across a wider region. It is known for instance in Ukrainian ("Коляда", Kolyadá), Belarusian (Каляда, Kalada, Kaliada), Polish (Szczodre Gody kolęda), Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian (Коледа, Коледе, koleda, kolenda), Lithuanian (Kalėdos, Kalėda), Greek (Koleda, Κόλιντα, Κόλιαντα), Russian (kolyadovanye, Колядования) and Czech, Slovak, Slovene (koleda). Groups of carollers go singing from house to house with a homemade star on a pole held high and in several traditional costumes.

In Polish folklore, the Turoń, which is the black, horned and shaggy animal with a flopping jaw is common at folk events including Kolęda, in times of Carnival and before Lent begins. The name comes from the word tur, meaning aurochs, an extinct ancestor of modern cattle. Carolling with the star on a pole was called “gwiazdory” from the word for star. Other common costumes include forest creatures like the bear and bird here and devil, and other characters (like Death, Angels, Goats, Foxes, Dziad - an old man, Wise Men and modern ones associated with Christmas).

Each print is 9.25" by 12.5" on Japanese washi paper with collaged paper for colours. You can find both the print and sets of cards with this image in minouette.etsy.com.

REBEL

Sun Wukong and the Peaches of Immortality, linocut on washi 8" x 10"

For #folktaleweek2022 prompt “rebel” my favourite irrepressible, chaotic hero of folklore: Sun Wukong, the Monkey King himself!

This is a linocut print of the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, hero of Chinese folklore (and throughout Asia) as well as the 16th century novel by Wu Cheng’en, ‘Journey to the West’.

Before embarking on his humorous epic adventure (and ultimately helping to recover Buddhist sutras) this irrepressible was born from a stone, becomes a King of monkeys, acquires immortality through Taoist practices and his staff-like weapon, phoenix-feather cap, and cloud-walking boots (through extorting the Dragon Kings) and wrecks a lot of mayhem. He defies a death sentence and Hell’s attempt to gather his soul by wiping his name (and those of his monkey friends) out of the Book of Life and Death (once again gaining immortality).

In an attempt to make him more manageable the Jade Emperor invites him to Heaven as ‘Protector of the Horses’ but Monkey realizes he’s being patronized and this just means stable boy, so he sets the horses free and declares himself The Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal. Gold Star advises the Jade Emperor accept the title and try to placate Monkey with another job: Guardian of the Heavenly Peach Garden. Peach-loving Monkey accepts. The Queen Mother’s maidens come to fetch peaches for her Royal Banquet for gods and goddesses to which Monkey was not invited and he turns defiant. He not only eats the Peaches of Immortality, he crashes the party and steals and eats Laozi’s Pills of Immortality. And he’s just getting started! Between his guile and martial prowess, whole armies fail to stop the Monkey King. Being cooked in a crucible for 49 days only makes him stronger. Finally Buddha imprisons him for 500 years, until he is given the opportunity to be let out as protection for the monk Tang Sanzang making a pilgrim to India for the Buddhist sutras (the Journey to the West). 

COSTUME

The Selkie, linocut on washi, 9.25" x 12.5", by Ele Willoughby

I like the idea of a selkie for the #FolktaleWeek2022 prompt costume because selkie folktales turn the idea of a costume on its head: this is a mythological being (maybe a fairy or elf, depending on whether you’re in Scotland or Iceland) which disguises itself by removing its skin, rather than covering it up.

This is a hard-carved and printed lino block print of a selkie shedding her skin, seated on rocks, surrounded by harbour seals. Each print is made on lovely Japanese washi paper, cream-coloured paper with bark inclusions, 9.25” x 12.5”.

In Celtic, Norse, Faroese and Icelandic mythology, selkies (also spelled silkies, sylkies, selchies) or selkie folk meaning 'seal folk' can change from seal to human form by shedding their skin. The legends tell of seal fairies or elves who choose to come ashore in human form, and sometimes have human families. Like the swan maiden stories, if a human hides the selkie's seal skin, they cannot return to the sea, but if they find their skin, nothing, not love, nor their own human children (with telltale webbed feet, and sometimes a greenish tint and fishy smell) can keep them on land and they will return to the sea. There are stories of men stealing selkie skins (left ashore, for instance when selkies come to dance naked under the moon) and compelling the female selkie to marry them, but she always longs for the sea (and ultimately escapes when she or her offspring finds her skin). One story though tells of a selkie-wife by choice, who loves her fisherman husband and life ashore. But, when he doesn't heed her advice and ventures out in a storm, she is forced to resume her seal form to rescue him, even though she knows she will loose her comfortable human life on land. Male selkies were known as handsome and seductive, who sought out dissatisfied and neglected human women like fishermen's wives. Women could summon their silkie-husbands by shedding seven tears into the sea.

POTION

Potion Brewing, linocut on washi 8" x 10" by Ele Willoughby, 2022

For the #folktaleweek2022 prompt “potion” I couldn’t find a folktale potion I wanted to illustrate so I imagined a scene with a hedge witch and her familiars as she brews a potion. 

I put some of the research I did to illustrate ‘Death by Shakespeare’ to work. Behind the cat you can spy a Renaissance style medicine cabinet, and the cauldron, jars and bottles are also like some I found of that era. Also the plants and mushrooms used in medicine and poisons or generally seemed to fit the theme and be associated with magic: Amanita, witches cap mushroom, mistletoe, mandrake, vervain, and lady’s mantle. The unicorn skull is for a hint of #magic and the familiars, barn owl, black cat and rabbit all have rich folklore. 

I embellished this print with some hand painted India ink details. 

VICTORY

The Morrigan, linocut 8" x 10" by Ele Willoughby, 2022

For the final #folktaleweek2022 prompt victory I chose The Morrigan, the tripartite Goddess of Irish mythology. The Morrígan or Mórrígan, also known as Morrígu or as "the three Morrígna" in her form as the three sisters (often Badb, Macha, and Nemain or sometimes Badb, Macha, and Anand). She sometimes appears as an individual, sometimes as three sisters. She was a shape-shifting goddess associated with fate, doom or victory in battle. She incited battle, inspires bravery and can bring victory over the enemies of warriors. She was the wife of The Dagda, the "good god," a father-figure and king, god of agriculture and fertility. She could inspire fear and be a symbol of impending death, often as a crow or raven but she could also be seen as a protector, associated with land, livestock and fertility. She is also the goddess of death and purveyor of prophecy. She sometimes appears in multiple forms within the same story, most commonly a beautiful maiden, a fierce warrior-queen, an old crone or washerwoman washing the blood-stained clothes of the dead, and a raven. The ominous shriek of The Morrigan at battles means she is sometimes associated with banshees.  

It was close to the wire and I finished this print last night, having lost a couple of days I had planned to work with my 8 year old home with a cold. This one might have turned out differently if I had time to linger on decisions but I think it works. There’s something to be said for working intuitively.

It was a challenge to create this week of art but huge thanks to @folktaleweek for organizing this annual event! It’s been a huge treat to see how some many talented artists illustrated these prompts. I loved finding new to me artists and illustrators, checking the hashtag daily, seeing their magical work and learning many myths, legends and folktales. This is a truly international event with posts in my languages and great variety in tales and style of work and I will definitely return to this again next year. If you haven’t already, you should check it out!

Prints inspired by art history

I am trying to participate in the #PrinterSolstice again this year. They have created a series of prompts for each of 13 weeks starting with the (northern hemisphere) winter solstice. This year the themes are based on 20th century movements in art. It's been challenging to find time; we're once again sheltering at home and schools have gone remote here. Facilitating remote school takes a lot of my time and I cannot print at the same time, though I can plan, draw and carve. 

We started with Abstract Expressionism, which is really outside my wheelhouse, since my prints are representational. But it gave me a chance to work intuitively to create a mono print with scraps of lino.

monoprint by Ele Willoughby, 2022

Next was Art Deco. I looked at a lot of Art Deco artworks. The frequent clamshell motif and the keyhole shape in Art Nouveau works, plus seeing a number of mermaid illustrations reminded me I had long wanted to illustrate the story of Mélusine, the legendary half-fairy ancestor of the House of Lusignan and royals including the Plantagenets, whose lower half became a serpent when she bathed. She marries a nobleman but insists he must never observe her in the bath; of course he does, and she leaves him - so the keyhole shape works just right to tell the story! There are many versions, like most folklore. Sometimes she has two tails, or a fishtail or wings. There are different versions of her name and various stories are found in different regions especially France, Luxembourg and the Low Countries. I first learned of her from Manuel Mujica Láinez’s The Wandering Unicorn, which tells her story through the centuries. Her story also appears in A.S. Byatt’s Possession amongst many other places from operas to video games.

Mélusine linocut, 8" x 10" by Ele Willoughby, 2022

These art history prompts have been a challenge to link to my art practice. I've  been seeking a connection to things like science art. The third prompt was Bauhaus. In looking at Bauhaus paintings I was reminded of nothing so much as Feynman diagrams, and the exuberance action on the quantum scale, so I decided to combine quantum physics with the Bauhaus vocabulary of lines, shapes and colour palette. 

I was thinking more of the paintings of Kandinsky than the regular geometric shapes in Bauhaus design: a welter of black straight, wavy and curly lines, stripes of colour, triangles, circles and concentric rings and washes of pale colour, often on a cream coloured background. 

The Feynman diagrams are a tool of particle and quantum physics to both denote a particle interaction and also can be used to make calculations of probabilities and physical properties. Straight lines denote particles (quarks and leptons like electrons). Wavy lines denote photons. Curly lines are gluons and the dotted line is a Higgs particle. I wanted to include an electron spontaneously giving off a virtual photo and particle-antiparticle pairs, production of a Higgs particle, one diagram of the sort of we see if we smash protons together, and one hilariously named penguin diagram (in this instance producing a gluon).

Feynman Diagram Bauhaus, linocut, variable edition, 8" x 10" by Ele Willoughby, 2022

Looking at all these prints as I try to plan ahead and link them to my art practice and science art I am reminded of Leonard Shlain's book Art and Physics. It should be around here somewhere but I can't find it on my bookshelves. (Aside: this house needs a librarian.) In the book Schlain linked major movements in art with advancements in physics. I am not sure I can agree with his thesis that movements in art presaged new physics (which feels like it violates causality to me) but I greatly enjoyed the book. Others have drawn parallels between art and physics and it's clear that both math and physics were an influence of some of these major modern movements in art. In fact, this has been true for centuries; consider for instance the development of artistic perspective, or the camera obscura. One of the obvious connections is between cubism and the math of the fourth dimension and the physics of relativity. So that is something I'm thinking about for an upcoming print.

Some of the other prompts (colour field, Dadaism, Fauvism, Harlem Renaissance, Minimalism and surrealism) are less obvious for me, but I'm thinking ahead. Op Art is rather clearly related to mathematics. I have a scientific idea for Conceptual art and the seed of an idea for Pop Art. Stay tuned for more!