Mythical Creatures: Afanc

You may have seen on Twitter and Instagram that there’s an art challenge every Monday called Animal Alphabets. It’s a challenge going through the alphabet with different themes and a creature beginning with each letter. If you’d like to take a look at the type of thing I mean, you can find it here: AnimalAlphabets The last round, which was the first one I joined in, was all on birds. The current round has the theme of Mythical Creatures and, as I love mythology, I thought I’d post here about each creature. 



The first one was A for Afanc, which I was really excited about because the Afanc is a Welsh creature. There is variation in the name, though. In the tale Peredur, Son of Efrawg, which is one of The Three Romances usually included with The Mabinogion, it is called an Addanc.

I knew what it was as I’ve read a lot of Welsh myth and folklore, but none of the tales tell you what it looks like. I’d been wondering about an Afanc’s appearance for a long time, since I first read The Mabinogion, but never really come up with a solution. The general description of this creature is that it looks like a beaver, a crocodile or a dwarf and is very fierce. You wouldn’t want to meet one! But they can be tamed by maidens. The thought of coming up with a picture of an Afanc put dread into me, but suddenly I had a vision of what it could look like: a sort of beaver/crocodile cross in brown and green looking very angry. Here is my painting:

In folklore, there are quite a few stories of the Afanc. They live in rivers or lakes and cause inundations when angry. All tales are more or less the same, with some variation. One tells of Hu Gadarn who pulled an Afanc out of Llyn Llion (a lake) using two oxen to drag the creature out in order to prevent an inundation.

Another tells of one in Llyn yr Afanc (Lake of the Afanc) in the River Conwy. A maiden lured the Afanc out of the water and while he slept on her lap, men bound him in chains. When he woke, he was furious (quite understandably I think), threw the men off and headed back into the lake. They sent for two oxen, attached the chain to them, and dragged the Afanc out, taking him to Llyn Cwm Ffynnon Las (Lake of the Blue Well Valley) where they left him. They obviously weren’t too bothered about that lake flooding!

There is even a tale of King Arthur pulling an Afanc out of Llyn Barfog with his warhorse.

In the tale of Peredur, who was one of King Arthur’s men, Peredur went on a long journey during which, he came to the court of the Sons of the King of Suffering. He saw three horses carrying a man each in their saddles, all dead. A woman took them off the horses and bathed them in turn in a tub of warm water, applying ointment to their bodies and all three men came back to life. Peredur asked one of the men why this happened and the man replied that every day, they were killed by an Addanc in a cave and came back to be revived to go through the same thing again and again.

The following morning, Peredur asked to go with the men to the cave, but they wouldn’t allow it, saying that if he was killed, there would be no one to bring him back to life. However, Peredur followed them. On the way, he came across a woman sitting on a mound.

‘I know where you are going,’ she said. ‘You go to the cave to fight the Addanc and he will kill you, not with his strength, but with his guile. There is a stone pillar in the entrance of the cave and he hides behind it so that he can see everyone who enters the cave, but they can’t see him. He kills everyone with his poisoned spear. If you promise to love me, I will give you a stone so that you can see him, but he won’t see you.’

Peredur said he did love the woman, she placed the stone in his hand and disappeared. Carrying on his way, Peredur came to the cave, took the stone in his left hand, making him invisible, and his spear in his right hand. Entering the cave, he saw the Addanc, killed him with his spear and cut his head off. As he left, he was met by the three men, who told him that there was a prophecy about him, saying he would kill the monster. They offered him any of their sisters for a wife and half their kingdom, but Peredur refused the offer and carried on his journey.

So, there is a brief summary of the tales of Afancs. I’m hoping to give you a brief overview of other mythical creatures as we go along. I’m also going to tell you more stories from The Mabinogion and the characters within it. I hope you’ll join me and enjoy what I have to tell.

You can find me here:

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Twitter: @RustyandBoots

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Folklore from Myths & Legends of Wales retold by Tony Roberts

Tale from Peredur, Son of Efrawg from The Mabinogion translated by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones

  

Poems of Myth and Lore

Something a bit different today. I’ve been writing poems for a while, but in the last year, I’ve been joining in with #mlprompts on Instagram. The lovely hosts give out a list of prompts every month, all on a different theme, but always to do with mythology and folklore. I’m enormously interested in these subjects, as you may know by now, so I had to join in! 



I’ve done several paintings and begun to write poems which I’m happy to put out there for you to read. I’ve had some good feedback on my work, so as a writer and artist, that’s lovely to have. I’m including some of my poems here. They’re all inspired by nature, myth and folklore and include the subjects of Lughnasa, Samhain, mid-winter and Yule, which are all festivals of the Celtic people.

I’ve had several people suggest that I make them into a book of poetry, so have a read and tell me what you think!

As always, you can find me here:

Instagram: @rusty_and_boots

Twitter: @RustyandBoots

Facebook: @RustyandBoots

Facebook (Writing): @talesfromdemetia

Valentine Gift Ideas

Today I thought I’d tell you a little bit about my hand-painted hearts, my process and thoughts to give you an insight into things and let you know what goes into making them. They are all lovingly made with care and attention to detail, because my aim with everything I make is to provide something beautiful to brighten up someone’s day. I’m inspired very much by nature as nature and art have been shown to help with mental wellbeing.    


My hearts are all made from responsibly sourced birch wood and I hand paint each one individually with acrylics, both sides being decorated, which obviously means I have to wait for the first side to dry properly before I can paint the other side. (I once was too impatient and tried to paint the second side too quickly, which ended up in the paint getting smudged and stuck to the protective paper I had underneath it.)


With some of them, I know exactly how I’m going to achieve the effect I want, for example, this nature inspired one. 

I painted the background, then the grass, painted the wooden flowers separately, then glued them on. Also, my Kintsugi inspired heart was quite straight forward. 

 This was based on the Japanese concept of Kintsugi, where broken items are repaired with gold, giving them a web of golden lines all across the surface and in the process making them more valuable. We’ve all had broken hearts in one way or another which have had to be mended, or if not completely mended, glued back together. 


This purple one was another I really enjoyed making, with the different textures of the acrylic paint and the Prisme paint. The Prisme paint takes a whole day to dry properly, which means it takes two or three days to complete both sides, but it has a lovely sheen when it catches the light.

 One of the hearts that gave me more of a challenge, was the Steampunk inspired one. I had to decide how exactly I was going to position the painted cogs for the best effect, wait between each layer for them to dry to get the shaded look, and decide how best to position the metal cogs, which I attached after everything was completely dry.

 My vintage inspired heart also required more thought. It also has more elements to it and more work. A painted background to give it the appearance of faded paper, stamped and coloured rose and notes, all attached in decoupage style and the border painted to look like old letters. This one is single-sided, because if I did the same amount of work on both sides, it would be a bit more expensive!

I also make personalised hearts with a name of your choice hand written using pyrography. This is an example:

 The flowers are painted separately and attached, and it is varnished to protect the wood.


My favourite one to make is my turquoise heart with purple swirls and a jewel for a bit of shine.

 This needed a lot of paint mixing to get the right colours and accuracy for the swirls. It also has faint stamped writing which shimmers slightly in the light. 


Each heart measures 8cm x 8cm and is about 0.4 cm deep. They all have a ribbon attached to hang them up or they can simply be placed on a shelf. However they’re displayed, they would make a lovely gift or keepsake for a loved one. 


There are more designs available in my shop, along with all of these, which you can find here: etsy.com/uk/shop/rustyandboots


Some are ready for shipping, others I’ll need to make especially for you, but in any case, they take around two to three days to ship. 


There is also currently 10% off all items for a limited time, so get them while you can. Oh, and there’s free shipping in the UK!     


As always, you can find me on social media:


twitter.com/RustyandBoots

instagram.com/rusty_and_boots

pinterest.com/RustyandBoots

facebook.com/RustyandBoots


If you have any comments or questions, feel free to get in touch.

Valentine Gifts and a Story of Dwynwen

Here in Wales we have St Dwynwen’s Day on 25^th January. It has been described as the Welsh St Valentine’s Day, but I’ve found out that that isn’t quite correct because of what happened to Dwynwen.

There are two versions of the story, more or less the same, but this is the one I know.

Dwynwen was one of 24 daughters of King Brychan Brycheiniog. She loved a man called Maelon Dafodrill but when, before they were married, she rejected his advances, he became angry and left her. In her sadness and fear, Dwynwen prayed to God for help and Maelon was turned into a block of ice. For rejecting him, Dwynwen was granted three wishes.

First of all, she wished that Maelon would be thawed, second, she wished that her prayers on behalf of all true lovers be heard so that they either obtain those they love or be cured of the love, and third, she wished that she would never marry. Dwynwen became a nun and set up a convent on Llanddwyn Island on Anglesey.

The second version of the story is the same, except that her father had arranged for her to marry another prince, not Maelon. Dwynwen fled and begged God for help. An angel appeared and gave her a potion to forget Maelon, after which, he was turned into ice and Dwynwen was granted the three wishes.

The story was first written by Iolo Morganwg, an 18^th Century poet, antiquarian and literary forger, who most likely made it up. Dwynwen may well have been a real woman, though, as there are records of someone with that name in the genealogies of Welsh kings from around the 4^th Century. Her father, Brychan Brycheiniog was a semi-legendary figure and I think all stories come from some kind of truth, however small.

The name Dwynwen means “she who leads a blessed life” and, as well as being the Welsh saint of lovers, she is also the saint of animals.

The day itself has become more popular in recent years and can be celebrated whether you’re Welsh or not. The Welsh for “St Dwynwen’s Day” is “Dydd Santes Dwynwen”.

A little shameless promotion: if you’re looking for a gift or keepsake for someone for Dydd Santes Dwynwen or St Valentine’s Day, the hand-painted hearts in the photos here are available in my shop, currently with 10% off!  Rusty and Boots Shop

As usual, you can find me here:

instagram.com/rusty_and_boots

twitter.com/RustyandBoots

pinterest.com/RustyandBoots

facebook.com/RustyandBoots


If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me. Have a lovely St Dwynwen’s Day.

Halloween Art Sale

First of all, let me mention (because I know you like sales!) that I have 10% off my Halloween art and prints in my shop. If you like a more subtle effect in your Halloween decorations, with cute rather than scary, you’ll like it. It’s especially for my blog readers, but I’m going to make you read about Halloween before I tell you how to get the discount. You could always skip to the end, though. I hope you won’t. You’ll see my art and prints as you read…

Halloween decorations are kind of a new thing, aren’t they? Back when I was a child, people only went to town on the spider’s webs, pumpkins and skeletons if they were having a party, as far as I remember, although lanterns have always been used. Pumpkins weren’t the original vegetable to be carved. That came from the USA. I and my mother had swede lanterns when we were children. My grandfather carved one for me. I still remember the scent of it: warm, sweet and …vegetably. Turnips were the traditional lanterns and were lit to keep away evil entities at Halloween. 

I read an article once in which a journalist said we should do away with Halloween because it’s an imported American thing and just celebrate Guy Fawkes as that’s the older tradition. He obviously didn’t do his research! The Gunpowder Plot happened in 1605. Halloween, also known as Samhain in Irish, goes back at least two thousand years here in the UK.

The native British, who we call the Celts (and a people I’m very interested in, along with their art), celebrated Samhain as the end of the year, the end of harvest, the beginning of the dark half of the year when the sun’s power weakened and as a time to honour the ancestors. It was also a time when the veil between our world and the Otherworld became very thin. Beings of both realms could step through with ease.

It was celebrated right up to modern times, as I mentioned with the lanterns and British migrants who went to live in the USA took the traditions with them. Those traditions evolved there and were imported back to us as we have it today. I prefer the older version, all about the seasons, connecting with the earth…

Black cats were seen as lucky here, by the way, particularly in Wales. It was good luck for a black cat to cross your path. 

So, my Halloween/Samhain artwork includes a black cat, pumpkins and a tabby cat in her witch’s hat (because witches’ cats are not all necessarily black). The Bat and the Hat is an original watercolour. The Cat and the Hat, The Cat and the Pumpkin and The Pumpkin are all prints.   

You can get 10% off these by typing HALLOWEEN2 into the box at checkout in my shop: RustyandBoots

Or you can use this link: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/RustyandBoots?coupon=HALLOWEEN2

The offer runs until 31^st October, but please bear in mind that if you order late, it may not arrive until after Halloween. If you like cats and witchy things, though, they might suit your walls all year round. There’s also free shipping to the UK! 

I really hope you like my painting and prints as much as I do. They’ve been getting a lot of love on social media, which you can find me on here:

Instagram: @rusty_and_boots

Twitter: @RustyandBoots

Facebook: @RustyandBoots

Wall Art for Your Home

Hello again! It’s been quite a while since I last wrote a blog post. Things, such as life, have been getting in the way and as time marches on, there seems to be less of it. I’ve been busy with my shop and some personal things that have taken my time. I hope to post regularly from now on though.

While I’ve been away from my blog, I’ve been making lots of new wall art and having lots more ideas, which are all drawn in my ideas sketchbook with notes on colours, shapes, etc and I hope you’ll be seeing them soon. 

One of the new things I’ve been working on is dreamcatchers as wall hangings. I’ve been interested in them for a while, since my mother bought me one for a birthday years ago and I love the idea of them.

They’re originally a Native American creation, made with string, beads and feathers and are meant to catch the bad dreams and let the good dreams through, but I have read somewhere that the opposite is true: that they catch the good dreams for you and let the bad ones through so you don’t have them. Most people agree on the first explanation, but if you have any thoughts on which one is correct, let me know.

Just a side note: I love the Native American mythology and way of looking at the world; I think it’s quite similar to the Celtic myth and view with its connection to nature, respect for the land and seeing Spirits in every tree, rock and river.

With the dreamcatchers I’ve made so far, I haven’t tried to copy those traditional types; I’ve done something different, using weaving and crochet. The lavender crocheted dreamcatcher is inspired by winter with its pale frostiness and I’ve tried to make the crochet look like a snowflake. The “frosted” leaves are all handmade from scratch and take quite a while to make. It would be a lovely addition to a cool, minimal décor.

The purple and orange dreamcatchers are hand woven and are the first two items that I’ve woven in the round, apart from experiments. One is very bold, with warm colours and the other I decided to make an opposite, with cool, calming hues. They’re both finished off with a simple fringe and the varying yarns – from 4 ply to chunky – give a lovely texture. Also, because they’re handmade and I can’t achieve the same placement of yarn with its varying colours every time, each one is unique. If I make another purple one it won’t be exactly the same as this one, meaning that you’ll have a one-off piece.

I think I now love weaving as much as crochet! 

All of these, along with other items, are available now in my shop with free shipping to the UK. You can find it here: Rusty and Boots

They won’t be on their own for long as I have more dreamcatchers on the way.

This one has recently joined them:

It’s handmade with chunky yarn in blush pink and beige and is a bit of wall art that will bring a hint of cosiness to your décor this winter. Just looking at it makes me feel warm and comfy!

As always, you can find me on social media where I try to reply as soon as I can:

Instagram: @rusty_and_boots

Twitter: @RustyandBoots

Facebook: @RustyandBoots

Pinterest: RustyandBoots

Much Room for Mushrooms?

If you’ve seen my social media posts, you might know where I’m going with this. Last year I had a bit of a mushroom phase, which I like to think was like Picasso’s pink and blue periods. That’s what I like to tell myself, anyway!  :D  My mother asked me one day if I’d seen this particular group of mushrooms growing nearby, so I went to look and took my camera with me. This is what resulted: lots of photos of cute fungi.

 While I’m on the subject, did you know that mushrooms are only the ‘flowering’ part of the fungi? Most of it is underground in vast strings of interconnected webs and are mainly found around trees, especially in a forest. As you can see, these were surrounding a tree stump. Fungi is useful to the trees because it connects them to each other and helps them to communicate.

I know that might sound hippyish, but it’s been scientifically proven that trees communicate with each other. If one is being cut or eaten, it releases chemicals which other trees pick up and they react to it by producing another chemical to make their leaves taste worse. At least that’s what I remember from watching a programme on it! They communicate in a similar way through the fungi, so it’s like a symbiotic relationship.

Nature continues to amaze me and the more I learn, the more I think our ancestors were right that there are spirits in the landscape; i.e., more going on than we think.

Anyway, I was inspired by these photos to draw this, a sort of whimsical, fantasy art picture where the mushrooms in the middle are feeling a bit hemmed in.

That turned into a painting:

It is now mounted and available in my shop.

I love fantasy art, especially that of Alan Lee, Anne Stokes and Lisa Parker. I’ve been thinking about trying some myself, particularly after joining in with the Drawlloween challenge last year hosted by Mab Graves on Instagram. I really enjoyed it and surprised myself with what turned up on the paper. I’ve also begun to like whimsical art, so I think I’ll be doing more of this, trying to stretch myself into new areas. Here are a few of the artworks from the Drawlloween challenge, as I didn’t post on my blog during that time. Some of them need more work and improvements and I may do better versions. Let me know what you think.