This drawing was made using charcoal, compressed charcoal, chalk pastel, and acrylic paint on paper. It is 2.6 x 1.5 metres. I began it in black charcoal at the end of February 2023, before the 'big snow' here in Shetland. It is loosely based on medieval triptych paintings so I had a rough idea that I wanted three main stories, with three central figures. Working with charcoal meant the stories and characters could stay fluid and I wiped off and covered up just as much as I added to the drawing. I added more and more colour over the months. I struggled to now whether I should stop drawing or just keep going with it. There were quite a few changes but nothing huge. What I thought of as the main themes of the painting stayed the same. After adding so much colour to a drawing that I had initially thought might be monochromatic, I started to really care about the colours I used. The shapes of the colours were more than simple pattern. I was not satisfied with the green that I had. It felt unnatural to me. I bought a new beautiful olive green in March and it became my favourite colour. At one point I wanted to colour the whole background in green, take out all the detail and just have that lush green, but I didn't. I think it would have worked well but I would have lost too much of the little stories that I was attached to. In May, I realised that I wanted a blacker black than my compressed charcoal so I used Stuart Semple's 'worlds blackest paint' in some parts. I then used gold paint to highlight some of the leaves and the eye of the griffin creature. The creatures eye was the last thing I did. I decided that would be a good point to stop, and it was finished.
The main characters are the Hermit, the Fates, the Warrior, and the Fool. They are archetypal characters found in many stories, mythologies, folklores, and religions around the world. The stories, like humans, weave between places, cultures, and influences. I would like the viewers to create their own interpretations of the characters, but below I have written a little about what they mean to me.
The Hermit is a character found in many tales, often as a sage or magician but traditionally they are similar to the Celtic druid or equivalent. They are contemplative and solitary. The hermit often offers advice to those seeking answers. The wisdom or insight is limited to the seekers need or capacity, and may sometimes be given to people of worth as a prize. In the Sicilian tale "How the Hermit Helped to Win the King's Daughter," the hermit only helps the kind-hearted brother of three rival brothers. "I gave you my help," explains the hermit, "because you had pity on those that were in need. And when you are in need yourself, call upon me, and I will come to you."
In the French story Princess Rossette:
"The queen heard that in a great forest near the castle there was an old hermit, who lived in a hollow tree, and that people came from far and near to consult him.
In this story, the hermit foretells the future not through any device or sorcery but as plain advice about what to do to avert misfortune.
Similar advice-giving is found in two other tales. In the Romanian tale "Little Wildrose," an "old hermit with a white beard" is found reading a book in a cave. He offers advice on how the protagonists, an elderly childless couple, can have a child, given to them by a fairy. In the Breton story "The Castle of Kerglas," the hero learns how to overcome an evil sorcerer on the advice of the "hermit of Blavet," who, however, does not appear in the story.
Several Grimm tales also include hermits in traditional roles of giving advice or contriving moral lessons. In "Brother Frolick," the picaresque hero has completed a lifetime of adventures and visits a hermit "who was known to be a pious man" for advice about getting to heaven. The hermit tells him that there are two roads, one broad and pleasant leading to hell, and a second narrow and rough leading to heaven. Brother Frolick thinks to himself, "I should be a fool if I were to take the narrow, rough road."
The hermit in "The Hut in the Forest" is an "old gray-haired man." "His white beard fell down over the table almost as far as the ground." The hermit regards the third-born sibling of the woodcutter's daughters in a familiar plot involving a prince trapped into the form of an animal by a witch's spell. Perhaps as interesting as the conventional plot is the wilderness isolation of the woodcutter, his wife, and three daughters, and the perennial dangers of enormous forests to the imagination of common people. A nearly identical plot is spun in "The Old Woman in the Wood."
But the most important representation of the hermit is Grimm's "The Three Green Twigs," with elements of the Christian supernatural as well as the magic of the traditional fairy tale. Here the hermit is clearly Christian and the story refers to prayer, sin , repentance, and God. Attach a hermit's name to the protagonist and this story is an artful hagiographical tale, so representative of a particular image of hermits."
In tarot, the Hermit can represent taking time alone, reflecting inwardly, and focusing less on external stimuli to find understanding, or a vision from within.
The Fates are about the number three. The number three is important, representing birth, life, and death. Past, present, and future. Maiden, mother, and crone. The Holy Trinity. The triple goddess of Celtic mythology, the Morrígan. The Hindu trinity of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. The three witches in Macbeth, the Norse Norns, the Roman and Greek fates. In Greek mythology they were called the Moirai and were spinners of destiny. They spun, measured, and cut the thread of human life.
Jung wrote, "Triads of gods appear very early, at the primitive level. The archaic triads in the religions of antiquity and of the East are too numerous to be mentioned here. Arrangement in triads is an archetype in the history of religion". In his essay A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity. As a side note here, in his introduction to the essay, Psychology and Religion: West and East, Jung wrote, "my attempt to make the most sacred of all dogmatic symbols, the Trinity , an object of psychological study is an undertaking of whose audacity I am very well aware". Which I believe suggests he felt conflicted about deconstructing spirituality into a form of study. Does it reduce the spirituality if we attempt to understand it?
The warrior and the fool are complicated characters. They are part of the same story. Someone suggested that the fool looked more like a devil. That is ok with me and I like people to see what they see but I don't see any of my characters as devilish, demonic or evil. Maybe they are not even foolish, simply do things a different way, or find different things important. A fool to one person is a genius to others.
I take inspiration from Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, in which he examines the structure of traditional epic tales, highlighting key stages of the story. I think of the epic, multilayered books by Robin Hobb and I realise Fitz and the Fool may have snuck into my artwork. The warrior represents willpower and self-discipline. The fool has an open, curious mind and a sense of adventure. They are good for each other.
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