I'm working on...

I have some words....

—From an Old Irish text, Audacht  Morainn which consists of advice from Morainn to a young king.... 


Comath fírinni, cotnofathar.Ocbath trócairi, cotnocéba.  

Let the father preserve justice, for it will preserve him.  

Toléci dorche do ṡorchi. 
Toléci brón do ḟáilti. 
Toléci borb do ecnu.  
Toléci dóer do ṡóer. 
Toléci dochell do chlothaib.   
Toléci anflaith do ḟírḟlaith. 
Toléci debuith do chóri. 
Toléci gó do ḟír.  

Darkness yields to light, 
Sorrow yields to joy. 
Ignorance yields to wisdom, 
Slavery yields to freedom. 
Selfishness yields to generosity,   
Anarchy yields to order, 
Conflict yields to peace, 
What is false yields to truth.  
Air ní soí soithcedach sechtair. 

Let him exalt mercy, for it will truly exalt him. 

Is tre ḟir flathemon rosaig cech dán mochtide mind suíthi.  

It is through the justice of the father that each great man of art attains the summit of his knowledge.  

A prosperous man does not need to turn to the outside.   


and i have more than enough inspiration...

Images from the Book of Kells...

and from The Secret of Kells....

and work by Denis Brown...

It's the 'Secret of Kells' film that really tickles my taste buds.... i wrote about it before over here where there are more images to see. I'm actually trying very hard not to look too much... i don't want to be over influenced or try to copy.  Luckily i lent my copy of the dvd out & haven't asked for it back yet so I can't get too absorbed in it (did i say how much i love this animation??!!) Another excellent review is here

The text was written around 700AD & The Book of Kells is dated around 800 or a little earlier, but I am writing now, so I'm using my updated version of an uncial script & the illustrations won't be too traditional. This is for another 'memory canvas' which is why the translation here talks about 'the father', rather than king, as in the original. I'm playing with layout & fitting together ideas at the moment, so I'll show you more as I go along...

A Symbol... A Question...

What do you think of when you see this symbol?

It's something that emerged as I played one day, together with two words.

well, the words came first but this followed on quite naturally.

It's nothing mysterious & there are no prizes, 

but I would be curious to know if it suggests anything to you.

Here are some snippets of bits i was doing that may add to the sense of it

(or not!) 

I'll share my thoughts in a few days or so :-)

One Card Leads to Another...

And so, having done a selection of blue 'friends' cards, a request came for pinky/purples. It's always just as easy to do several as to do one...  a session of writing 'pink stuff' & painting splashy backgrounds to use for decoration resulted in a mountain of pages of words & quotes. 

All are duly scanned & saved for future use in other projects, & finally a batch of cards assembled & photographed. It takes ages sticking those 'diamonds' in place & making sure they look randomly scattered!!

splashy background = technical term for splashing paint around

I often use watercolour for these, but the inktense blocks i got a while back are really vibrant colours & run together nicely with a good sloshing of water (sloshing= another technical term). For this sort of thing, there's no point being too precious over it... they're only going to be cut up or used as backgrounds for other things.

cards listed at suziscribbles.etsy.com

I love how... when they're cut up or little bits are taken out... how they look so delicate, or how individual little pieces look like miniature works of art in their own right, no matter how messy the full sheet was!

Angel Wings 2

When I did the "On Angel Wings" canvas I worked on a second canvas at the same time... it served as somewhere to test ideas, which is quite a good job, as the gorgeous earthy ink i sprayed on was decidedly pink, and even more so when i washed it off... quite a happy accident though, it looks great for a different piece of work!

8 x 19.5 inches / 20 x 50 cm

I found some copyright free images of angel statues that suit these colours really well. I had thought the 2nd canvas could be left as it is.... maybe...  but as you see from the photograph, the words 'disappear' and will need darkening up, and as I look at it now I have an idea of adding a bit more to balance it up a bit.

There's a bit of an uncomfortable space under 'soar'... i knew as soon as i wrote the first couple of words on the next line that i'd misjudged where to start! Once over I may have lost heart in it there & then & painted the whole lot out, but I've learned that it is nearly always possible to rescue any piece of work. What I'll do is add something else on the right, which will also add some 'weight at that side to balance with the image.... of course as soon as i darken the lettering the whole thing will look different again. Hmm.... decisions, decisions...