"---His story quickened us, a wild white goose
Heard after dark above the drifted house."
Glanmore Sonnets
from Field Work
~ Seamus Heaney
Title: Heard after Dark
medium: acrylic and collage on canvas
dimensions: small
Heard after dark above the drifted house."
Glanmore Sonnets
from Field Work
~ Seamus Heaney
Title: Heard after Dark
medium: acrylic and collage on canvas
dimensions: small
title: the Spirit and the River
"Come heart, where hill is heaped upon hill:
For there the mystical brotherhood
Of sun and moon and hollow and wood
And river and stream work out their will;"
W. B. Yeats
excerpt from Into the Twilight
dimensions 20"x20"
Acrylic on canvas
{Carmel River Series}
January, 2018
- "this morning when a magpie with jerky steps inspected a horse asleep beside the wood"
.....From the Glanmore Sonnets
by Seamus Heaney
Dimensions: 20x24"
Acrylic on canvas
the Horse and the Magpie
(Carmel River Series)
November 2017
The Enchanted Voice
"He was standing under a bush one time, and he talked to it, and it answered him back in Irish. Some say it was the bush that spoke, but it must have been an enchanted voice in it, and it gave him the knowledge of all the things of the world."
~The Celtic Twilight Faerie and Folklore
(W.B. Yeats)
Dec. 2017
Carmel River Series
dimensions:20x20"
Acrylic on canvas
"He was standing under a bush one time, and he talked to it, and it answered him back in Irish. Some say it was the bush that spoke, but it must have been an enchanted voice in it, and it gave him the knowledge of all the things of the world."
~The Celtic Twilight Faerie and Folklore
(W.B. Yeats)
Dec. 2017
Carmel River Series
dimensions:20x20"
Acrylic on canvas
" a fox burying his grandmother under a hollybush"
~Ulysses by James Joyce
"The Celtic speaking peoples appear to share a common view that there are several layers to reality: the ordinary world and another reality, where other beings exist that might easily make their way into everyday life. It is possible to cross from the ordinary world into the otherworld. Celtic stories often take great pleasure in this shifting reality, using animals and birds to indicate the supernatural."
~{The white stag in Celtic myth is an indicator that the otherworld is near. They were considered to be messengers of the other world. And to Christians, as time passed, the white stag came to symbolize Christ.}
~{The white stag in Celtic myth is an indicator that the otherworld is near. They were considered to be messengers of the other world. And to Christians, as time passed, the white stag came to symbolize Christ.}
the Cow Taken by the Fairies
11/13
acrylic and pastels on canvas
36"x48"
"An elder in my church knew a woman who was accustomed in milking her cows to offer libations to the fairies. The woman was later converted to Christ and gave up the practice, and as a result one of her cows was taken by the fairies. Then she revived the practice..."
~ The fairy faith in Celtic countries
in private collection*
*[this painting was sold for the hourly amount of $ made per hour by someone in our very nearby Salinas, for example, planting and picking vegetables all day in the fields, with the addition of the expense of the artist's materials]
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11/13
acrylic and pastels on canvas
36"x48"
"An elder in my church knew a woman who was accustomed in milking her cows to offer libations to the fairies. The woman was later converted to Christ and gave up the practice, and as a result one of her cows was taken by the fairies. Then she revived the practice..."
~ The fairy faith in Celtic countries
in private collection*
*[this painting was sold for the hourly amount of $ made per hour by someone in our very nearby Salinas, for example, planting and picking vegetables all day in the fields, with the addition of the expense of the artist's materials]
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11/25/17
"Now it was a bright light, now it was letters of fire that vanished before they could be read, now it was a heavy foot moving about in the seemingly empty house. One wonders whether creatures who live, the country people believe,wherever men and women who lived in earlier times, followed us from the ruins of the old town? Or did they come from the bank of the river by the trees where the first light had shown for a moment?"
W.B. Yeats
The Celtic Twilight (cont'd.)
"Now it was a bright light, now it was letters of fire that vanished before they could be read, now it was a heavy foot moving about in the seemingly empty house. One wonders whether creatures who live, the country people believe,wherever men and women who lived in earlier times, followed us from the ruins of the old town? Or did they come from the bank of the river by the trees where the first light had shown for a moment?"
W.B. Yeats
The Celtic Twilight (cont'd.)
Finally it is the power to create worlds that matters. "Under the guise of civilization, under the pretext of progress, we have managed to banish from the mind all that is called, rightly or wrongly superstition, imaginings; to prohibit any kind of inquiry into truth which doesn't conform to common practice."
~ manifesto of Surrealism, 1924
~ manifesto of Surrealism, 1924
( paintings in a series of 20 works, for scheduled solo exhibits in Carmel, CA and at Mercy Retreat Center in Burlingame, CA by Elizabeth Wrightman): elizabeth@wrightman.us
These 10 paintings of a body of work which I began in 6/12, are all based on ancient, leading up to contemporary Irish storytelling, poetry and literature. And #10, Elemental Beings from William Butler Yeats poem, To Ireland in the Coming Times can be seen immdediately above, and on website page entitled , William Butler Yeats..........
{sold to private collector}
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painting [ pictured two below] is Unhurrying Morning Donkey
~ from Flann O' Brien's novel the Third Policeman
48x36"
acrylic on canvas
"The earth was agog with invisible industry. Trees were active where they stood and gave uncompromising evidence of their strength. Incomparable grasses were forever at hand, lending their distinction to the universe. Patterns very difficult to imagine were made together by everything the eye could see, merging into a supernal harmony their unexceptionable varieties. ----Birds were audible in the secrecy of the bigger trees, changing branches and conversing tumultuously. In a field by the road a donkey stood quietly, as if he were examining the morning, bit by bit unhurringly. ---He looked as if he understood completely these unexplainable enjoyments of the world. " ~ Flann O'Brien
These two,immediately above, were inspired by the following Irish visionary experience:"I myself, when I was a boy of ten or eleven, was perfectly convinced that on a fine dewy morning in summer when people were still in bed, I saw a strange horse run round a seven-acre field of ours and change into a woman, who ran even swifter than the horse, and after a couple of courses around the field disappeared into our haggard. I am sure, whatever I may believe today, no earthly persuasion would, at the time have convinced me that I did not see this. Yet I never saw it again and never heard of anyone else seeing the same."
~ the Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries
W.Y. Evans Wentz
acrylic on canvas
2 canvasses to hang adjoining each other about 4" apart
30"x40" each
hang them about 2 " apart
~ the Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries
W.Y. Evans Wentz
acrylic on canvas
2 canvasses to hang adjoining each other about 4" apart
30"x40" each
hang them about 2 " apart
Horses at the River,
from the poem In Praise of May, probably around 9th or 10th century.
ring doorbell at Sargent House, Salinas, CA to see "us"
and/or come June 24 for the opening at 3:00pm
acrylic on canvas
36"x48"
I am a Hound for Thornypaws;
I am a Doe for Swiftness
from a poem in the novel At Swim-Two- Birds
~Flann O'Brien
acrylic on canvas
dimensions:40x30"
presently on loan back to artist from private collection
es
acrylic and collage on canvas
48x36"
in private collection: Portland
acrylic and collage on canvas
48x36"
in private collection: Portland
I am a painter living in Carmel, Ca., working mostly at present from images in Irish poetry and related texts : Present work particularly influenced by the writings of Carl G. Jung, Joseph Campbell, Mircea Eliade, William Butler Yeats, Robert Graves, Flann O'Brien, numerous anonymous poets, my own Celtic heritage and a visit to Ireland, in part for the purposes of this series...
"I am a stag of seven tines" - the first line of the Song of Amergin ;( possible date, 1268 BCE.) This ancient poem is credited in legend with being "the first poem spoken in Ireland"
in this painting inspired by the poem, the white deer hides in a grove of 7 magical trees: apple, holly, birch,oak, willow, alder and hazel
48'x36'
acrylic on canvas
now in private collection and on loan back to the artist for exhibiting purposes
the Hare
acrylic on canvas
40x40"
NFS
owned by the artist's husband
1989
acrylic on canvas
40x40"
NFS
owned by the artist's husband
1989
the Blackbird of Belfast Loch
---the little bird has whistled from the tip of his bright yellow beak; the blackbird from a bough laden with yellow blossom has tossed a cry over Belfast Loch.
"int en bec ro leic feit do rind guip glanbuidi; fo-cheird faid os Loch Laig lon do chra."
~anonymous c. 800
48x36"
acrylic on canvas
{sold to private collector}
---the little bird has whistled from the tip of his bright yellow beak; the blackbird from a bough laden with yellow blossom has tossed a cry over Belfast Loch.
"int en bec ro leic feit do rind guip glanbuidi; fo-cheird faid os Loch Laig lon do chra."
~anonymous c. 800
48x36"
acrylic on canvas
{sold to private collector}
The White Stag and the Unicorn
acrylic on canvas
48x 36"
~ from the 17th Hermetic tract the Book of Lambspring
"The sages say truly that two animals are in this forest: one glorious, beautiful and swift, a great and strong deer; the other an unicorn ------The unicorn will be the spirit at all times. The deer desires no other name but that of the soul...."
{sold to private collector}
the Thicket
from the Irish poem King and Hermit
~10th c.
36x48"
acrylic on canvas
private owner
from the Irish poem King and Hermit
~10th c.
36x48"
acrylic on canvas
private owner
the Dog, the Roebuck and the Lapwing
48x36"
acrylic on canvas
these 3 animals may have been used as symbols for ancient Irish poets of codes they used ,to protect secrets of their writing art at the time when a new religion was changing what language and concepts could be used in literature...
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the White Stag is hidden in a sacred grove of apple trees
dimensions: 48x36"
medium: acrylic on canvas
painting is from a dream
......The top of the green oakwood is bushy,
Summer has come, winter has gone,
Twisted hollies wound the hound.
The blackbird sings a loud strain,
To him the live wood is a heritage,
The sad angry sea has fallen asleep,
The speckled salmon leaps.
The sun smiles over every land----
A parting for me from the brood of cares:
Hounds bark, stags tryst,
Ravens flourish, summer has come!
~ excerpt from Summer Has Come {circa ninth century}
(see below): The Hound, the Salmon and the Raven
in private collection
Summer has come, winter has gone,
Twisted hollies wound the hound.
The blackbird sings a loud strain,
To him the live wood is a heritage,
The sad angry sea has fallen asleep,
The speckled salmon leaps.
The sun smiles over every land----
A parting for me from the brood of cares:
Hounds bark, stags tryst,
Ravens flourish, summer has come!
~ excerpt from Summer Has Come {circa ninth century}
(see below): The Hound, the Salmon and the Raven
in private collection
"Bran finds that it is marvelous to cross the bright sea by boat, while for me---it is a blossoming sea over which he rides.---It is in the tops of the trees that your boat swims, crossing the heights: There is a woods filled with very beautiful fruit under the prow of your little boat, a woods with flowers and fruits which neither fades nor fails, where the leaves are the color of gold."
{This painting is renamed by the artist, Reaching Safe Passage and is no longer about the legend of Bran, in the mss quoted above but is dedicated to a loved one presently recovering from illness.....}
acrylic on canvas
48x36"