Squirrely

So, while working this morning, I've been having a conversation on twitter with Ratatoskr the Old Norse Squirrel messanger god, about the Legendary White Squirrel of Trinity-Bellwoods, along with the White Squirrel himself, cause that's what you do.

Incidentally, I've been reading A.S. Byatt's Ragnarok: The End of the Gods, so Yggdrasil seems to be the recurring theme of late.

1. 1. Ele ‏@minouette 1h

      my 'terms of venery' linocuts http://ow.ly/iRXnr  Love those collective nouns for animals

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   2. Ratatosk ‏@Ratatosk4 1h

      @minouette I am impressed by the glowing red eyes of the Legendary White Squirrel http://etsy.me/10Nwscj  @WhiteSquirrelTO #SquirrelArmy #wlf

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   3. Ele ‏@minouette 1h

      . @Ratatosk4 Thank you very much! The @WhiteSquirrelTO (and family) do indeed have some eerie pink-red eyes..

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   4. Ratatosk ‏@Ratatosk4 1h

      @minouette I believe @WhiteSquirrelTO & Co. were the inspiration for Cronenberg's “Scanners”...

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   5. Ele ‏@minouette 57m

      . @Ratatosk4 Ah! Hmmm.... that's definitely a new twist on the story of the Legendary White Squirrel of Trinity-Bellwoods @WhiteSquirrelTO

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      Ratatosk ‏@Ratatosk4 53m

      @minouette Believe me, nobody hunts or traps squirrels while @WhiteSquirrelTO is around. He's the #SquirrelArmy's secret weapon.

Andromeda, Cetus, Perseus and Pegasus

This is a linocut of the Greek myth of Andromeda. Her mother, Queen Cassiopeia bragged that Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids, or sea nymphs, angering Poseidon, god of the sea. He sent Cetus the sea monster to ravage the coast of the kingdom as punishment. The King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia were advised by an oracle that they needed to sacrifice their daughter to Cetus to save their land. She was striped bare and chained to a rock by the coast. She proved a very lucky princess, because who should happen by but the hero Perseus, fresh from his successful battle with the snake-headed Gorgon Medusa (whose head was in his sack). You see, Medusa's head turned the living to stone, which made it quite the useful weapon. Further, Pegasus the flying horse was born from the stump of her neck, so really this defeating Medusa was win-win for Perseus. He, of course, fell in love, slayed the monster and married Andromeda.

In the print, the monster Cetus encircles the rock on which Andromeda is chained. Perseus is shown descending on Pegasus, his flying horse, to battle the monster. You can see a couple of snakes peeping from his sack. Some versions of the myth suggest that Perseus was invisible at this moment, since he was wearing Hades's helm (note: Harry Potter was not the first to have a cloak of invisibility), but through the magic of printmaking, Perseus and Pegasus are made visible. (Flying horses are far more interesting when you can see them. Or perhaps, this is moment before he donned the cloak.)

Most of this story is commemorated in the night sky. Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Andromeda, Perseus, Cetus and Pegasus are all constellations.

The print is in a variable edition of 6 on lovely Japanese kozo (or mulberry) paper, 11 inches or 28 cm square. The block was inked 'à la poupée', with different colours applied directly to a single block. The sea is royal blue, the sea monster deep red with yellow eyes, the hair and wings on Perseus' helmet are yellow.

(May replace this with a higher resolution scan once I get Photoshop on my early Christmas gift).

Shang Yang, the Bird that Makes the Rain

This linocut shows how I imagine Shang Yang, 'The Bird that Makes the Rain'. I found a description of this marvellous creature in Jorge Luis Borges' (and poor, forgotten Margarita Guerrero's) 'The Book of Imaginary Beings'. It explains that Chinese farmers called upon Shang Yang to bring the rain:

It had but a single leg; in ancient times children would hop on one leg, wrinkle their foreheads, and shout, "It will soon rain, for Shang Yang is frolicking in the yard!" It was said that the bird drank water from the rivers and dropped it on the land.

In ancient times, a wise man domesticated this fowl, and he would walk about with it on upon his sleeve. Historians say that one day the Shang Yang, flapping its wings and hoping on its one leg, passed before the throne of Prince Ch'i, who, alarmed, send one of his ministers to the court of Lu, to consult with Confucius about the event. Confucius predicted that the Shang Yang would cause floods in the principality and in the lands nearby, and he advised that dikes and canals be built. The prince followed Confucius' advice, and thereby avoided great disasters.

Interesting, isn't it, that even the lengend explains that water rose from rivers, to the sky, to produce rain, as it does according to more modern understanding of the water cycle. Apart from hopping about on his single leg, and bringing the rain, Borges provides little clue as to Shang Yang's appearance, so I was free to imagine this strange creature myself. RJH says he looks like a cross between a stork and a turkey; perhaps he's right. I wanted to make sure the single leg looked sturdy; it is much to thick for a stork, with a solid knee and strong thigh for more springy and comical bouncing. I couldn't resist the the stylized, Chinese Buddhist sort of swirling cloud.

Shang Yang is printed in Payne's gray, a bluish, dark gray like rain, on Japanese kozo, or mulberry paper. Each sheet is 6 inches by 12.5 inches (15.2 cm by 31.8 cm). There are 12 prints in this edition.