Blessed Beltane

For those of you living on the Northern hemisphere - Beltane has come and we would like to use this opportunity to wish you all a blessed and fertile Beltane!

Beltane by Tricia Danby

 

New work in progress

I am currently working on a new drawing feat. the goddess Cerridwen. Her energy is so strong and full of fertility at the moment. I love to draw her but she is very challenging. So very excited and at the same time a bit scared. Will I be able to bring on paper what she would like to have brought here?

Sometimes it is not easy to channel a drawing and the energy - but I wouldn't want to miss it!

Yours Tricia

John I of England

John I of England
Faber-Castell Watercolour-Pencils “Albrecht Dürer”
A 5 watercolour paper 300g/m²

He's one of the most maligned kings in history, I suppose and I'd love to do him some justice.
John Plantagenet (* 24 December 1166) reigned as King of England from 6th April 1199 until his death on 19th October 1216. He succeeded to the throne as the younger brother of King Richard I. (known in later times as Richard the Lionheart). John acquired the nicknames of Lackland (French: Sans Terre) for his lack of an inheritance as the youngest son and for his loss of territory to France, and of Softsword for his alleged military ineptitude. (Most likely he was given both nicknames by his father, King Henry II.)
John was a Plantagenet or Angevin king and was born on Christmas Eve 1166 it is said...

Apart from entering popular legend as the enemy of Robin Hood, he is also known for when he acquiesced to the nobility and sealed Magna Carta, a document limiting his power which is popularly thought as an early first step in the evolution of modern democracy.

And just to clarify it - he was by no means illiterate! He was an highly educated man with the largest library of that time.

Saint Agnes by Tricia Danby

Saint Agnes

Saint Agnes is a virgin martyr. It is said that Agnes of Rome lived from 291 until 304. She is the patron saint of chastity, gardeners, girls, engaged couples, rape victims, and virgins.

In art she is often depicted with a lamb, as her name resembles the Latin word for “lamb”, agnus.

According to tradition, Saint Agnes was a member of the Roman nobility born c. 291 and raised in a Christian family. She suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve2 or thirteen during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, on 21 January 304.

The ruling Prefect Sempronius wished Agnes to marry his son, and on her refusal he condemned Agnes to death.

As Roman law did not permit the execution of virgins, Sempronius had a naked Agnes dragged through the streets to a brothel.

Various versions of her death and what really might have happend arose. Whatever happened – she died through the sword, that is, through her throat being pierced (or in other text: beheaded).

Her feast is 21 January.

Faber-Castell Watercolour-Pencils “Albrecht Dürer”
watercolour paper 300g/m²

  As always I did draw her the way she revealed herself to me.

Edward II and Piers Gaveston

I love them both loads, I have to admit, and I was pondering how to draw them for quite a while.
As I always draw what I see when I connect to historical persons and/or energies, I was fairly picky here and did lots of sketches.
But now I am highly pleased.

Edward II.
Faber-Castell Watercolour-Pencils “Albrecht Dürer”
A 5 watercolour paper 300g/m²

Edward II (25 April 1284 – 1327), called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king.

Piers "Perrot" Gaveston
Faber-Castell Watercolour-Pencils “Albrecht Dürer”
A 5 watercolour paper 300g/m²

Piers Gaveston, nicknamed Perrot, the 1st Earl of Cornwall, was born in 1284 – most likely on July 18th - and died 19 June 1312.
He was the favourite and (what I am covinced of) lover of King Edward II of England.

Simon Zelotes ... the Apostle

Saint Simon the Zealot

<sub>The apostle called Simon Zelotes, Simon the Zealot and Simon Kananaios or Simon Cananeus was one of the most obscure among the apostles of Jesus.

To distinguish him from Simon Peter, he is called Kananaios, or Kananites and in the list of apostles in Luke 6:15, repeated in Acts 1:13, Zelotes, the “Zealot”.

St. Simon, like the other Apostles, is regarded as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Catholic Churches, the Anglican Church and the Lutheran Church.</sub>

Original painting water colour pencils on water colour pad 300g/m²