J is for...

Jack-in-the-Green.

I love this little guy and the whole Jack-in-the-Green/Green Man idea in general. I've painted the Green Man several times and will no doubt do so again but this is the first time I've illustrated a Jack-in-the-Green. They are such a strong image, those foliate heads. There is not doubt as to what they are about, unlike other Faeries who often like to hide their true natures. The Jack-in-the-Green is nature personified, the renewing, seasonal cycle of growth, fruition, death and re-birth. No wonder the character has played such a prominant role, allbeit in differing disguises, in May Day festivals for centuries.

© Shona M MacDonald 2012. All Rights Reserved

There has been a vast amount written about the symbolism, history and imagry of the Green Man - I could wiffle on for ages about the books and articles I've read, the theories and the treelore but really, in the end, I think the best way to understand the Green Man, to connect with a Jack-in-the-Green, is to go out into your garden, or into the countryside on a bright, fresh Spring day and take a few moments to sit in silence and feel the atmosphere and the energy in the air.

I is for...

Imp.

A tricky one this. Some people list Imps along with Faeries while others don't. It's hard to say whether 'Imp' is a name specifically created to identify an actual type of small demon or an example of the demonisation of the Little People in general. Either way an Imp tends to be very small in size and show many of the characteristics of a naughty Faery; and as their name has its roots in German Folklore I'd like to think that they are Faery Folk.

© Shona M MacDonald 2012. All Rights Reserved

H is for...

Hobgoblin.

I'm not really sure what to say about Hobgoblins. It's a name that gets mentioned quite frequently yet I suspect a lot of time it's used as a generalisation. Hobgoblins are really hearth spirits, like Brownies, who live in kitchens, near either a fireplace, or in more modern times near the cooker or hob. I suppose anything with the term 'goblin' as part of its name is going to get some bad press, not least because the Puritans used the term to refer to Satanic forces, which is a shame I think, as all they want is a warm place to sleep and a little bit of cake now and then. Like Brownies they are small creatures who tend to be seen wearing tattered clothing. It is uncertain if they have the same attitude to new clothes as Brownies as so very little has been written about them. But they certainly don't have the same attitude to work. They are more like unpaying lodgers.

© Shona M MacDonald 2012. All Rights Reserved.

However, despite the lack of tales about them, their name has been associated with and used for all kinds of things from beer to computer games and comics, folk music to pubs and, most weirdly a Marxist journal (?).

I hadn't realised it had been so long since my last post. I have I, J, and K ready to post over the next couple of weeks, hopefully followed by a little peek at my painting techniques with the letter L :)

G is for ...

Gnome.

Every good garden should have one!! Given their popularity I find it quite odd that there aren't really any good stories or old folk-tales about Gnomes. You see statues of them in gardens all over Britain and yet there are virtually no detailed accounts of encounters with them. I suspect that a lot of people mix them up with Dwarves, as I've seen several Disney Dwarf statues being sold alongside Gnomes. I'm sure this would annoy both the Dwarves and the Gnomes as they are different creatures altogether.

© Shona M MacDonald 2012. All Rights Reserved.

 It was the 16th Century alchemist Paracelsus who is credited with first using the name Gnome to describe Earth Elementals who lived within the earth itself. I wonder if, perhaps, his perceived superior knowledge about them made other people shy away from writing about them in anything other than more modern children's stories. Yet despite this they have earned their place within Faerie mythology. Ask most people what they think a Kelpie or a Spriggan look like and they will probably stare at you blankly, but everyone knows what a Gnome looks like and that they are connected with gardening and the earth.

When I did a google search for Gnome, once I'd got past all the GUI computer speak (which took a few pages I can tell you!) I found that there is now even a Garden Gnome Liberation group fighting to free Gnomes from garden oppression!! This put me in mind of a story that featured on several news programmes here in the UK when I was a child. Someone had their Gnome stolen from their garden and a short while afterwards starting receiving postcards from his Gnome from all over the world. If my memory serves me right, the was Gnome eventually returned to his garden complete with a little suitcase covered in travel stickers. I'm not sure if that says more about people's fondness for Gnomes or the eccentricities of my fellow countrymen!

As we're talking Gnomes I'd also like to add a quick shameless plug for a company in the US, called Gnomeworks Puzzles, who make the most exquisite wooden jigsaw puzzles (I know because I've got one), including ones featuring some of my artwork.

H, I and J will be following soon and I've created a bit of 'walkthrough' for L to let you see how I put these pages together.

F is for...

Faery.

Well, what else could it be? Even though the word 'Faery' is used to describe so many different types of creature, I thought it best to stick with the obvious for this one and drew a little Faery girl with delicate wings.

I must admit that, on the whole, I prefer to draw and paint Fae creatures that are a little more unusual or challenging than this. I love the idea of shape-shifters - that Faeries can take any form they want, or any form we want for that matter. I remember reading Geoffrey Hodson's book 'The Kingdom of Fairy' and being intrigued by the idea that the house Brownie he had observed over several weeks began to appear with clothes similar to his own. I also like the idea that some of these nature spirits incorporate elements of vegetation, insects or animals into their physical forms. Water Faeries with frogs legs, Meadow Tuft Faeries (like my profile pic) with grass for hair, Twig Men and Thorn Sprites.

But, as this Alphabet has been designed in the style of a children's book, I wanted to keep it quite simple and keep those more complex creatures for my Herbarium Intermundia project (new blog coming soon :0) ).

© Shona M MacDonald 2012. All Rights Reserved

E is for...

Elf.

Choosing which kind of Elf to draw for this letter was a little tricky. There seems to be several definitions and descriptions of this particular Fae depending on where in Europe you happen to live. In some cases they are the same size as us humans, seen as the 'royal line' of the Fae Folk and this was certainly the kind of Elves Tolkien portrayed in his books. But it appears that the name 'Elf' has often become interchangable with 'Faery' and so they come in all shapes and sizes. Light Elves, who are much like the benevolent 'trooping Faeries' or Seelie Court in Scotland; and the Dark Elves who live underground, attack humans and animals with 'Elf-Shot' and the equivalent of the Unseelie Court.

So which to choose? In the end, having looked at the diminutive nature of most of the other creatures in the Alphabet, I decided to go with the English folklore which describes Elves as mischievous 'fairy boys', perhaps like Puck or Robin Goodfellow, or Honeythorn Gump from the film Legend.

© Shona M MacDonald 2012. All Rights Reserved

With only a few letters left to paint, I'm planning a walkthrough of one letter - from sketch to finished page - very soon but in the meantime I've scanned a few of my sketches:

A and B:-

© Shona M MacDonald 2012. All Rights Reserved

And a sneek preview of two future letters, H and J :-

© Shona M MacDonald 2012. All Rights Reserved

D is for...

Dryad.

I love the idea that trees have resident spirits. There's something right about that - that these beings live in the forests for hundreds of years watching the world, passing on their stories to one another. I usually imagine them to be old and wise, like Tolkien's Ents, all gnarly-faced and mossy, keeping the secrets of the first Forest. But Dryads are something different, taking the form of beautiful women when they leave their trees at night. I can't really imagine one wanting to make it's home in a twisted old Oak or a Yew but it is quite easy to imagine one living in a Willow or a Silver Birch -  delicate, thin-limbed trees.

© Shona M MacDonald 2012. All Rights Reserved

I'm getting closer to completing the Enchanted Alphabet - I've only six letter left to paint - but as I mentioned in my first post, I've been struggling with choosing creatures for one or two of the letters. Q and V have been particularly annoying. There are some Faerie creatures for these letters listed in the various books I have but none of them are British/Irish/Western European and I feel it would be a little odd to be staying within those mythologies for most of the pieces then suddenly throw in something from Japan or South America. So if any of you reading this have any suggestions, particularly for Q and V but also for N, I'd be very interested, and grateful, to hear them.