Celtic knotwork art - Humanity & Kindness...

I created this colourful Celtic knotwork design on the theme of humanity and kindness and based on a traditional Celtic knotwork design -

I actually created it in the first weeks of lockdown (late-March 2020) for a book on kindness, 'Be Kind' by Tecassia Publishing - thinking about how we're all interconnected across the whole world and how we need to cultivate our kindness and patience towards each other so that we can all live together effectively, especially in those most difficult moments when we sometimes feel anything but patient and kind...
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• It’s a celebration of a year of trees - a calendar idea that allocates a tree to a month (or period of time) similar to the zodiac idea that we’re all familiar with.

• The months are actually based around lunar months of 28 days so there are 13 months and 13 corresponding trees in each year.​

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• The Celtic Tree Calendar that’s widely used is based on Robert Graves’ idea of a Celtic Tree Calendar put forward in his book ‘The White Goddess’.

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The Celtic Tree Calendar is actually a beautiful idea – focusing our attention on our different trees and appreciating their beauty as well as their natural history and the parts they’ve played in our own social and cultural story…

I love the idea and I’ve based my latest Celtic Tree Project around the 13 tree months – although I also intend including other favourite trees later (so hopefully your own favourite tree will be there before too long, as well…).

​I'll show you my Celtic Tree Calendar artworks project at the end of the post (or you can scroll down now if you can't wait!!)...

It’s certainly a wonderful idea and it’s really captured the public imagination. I think it’s a great way for us all to feel more connected with nature…

My Celtic hawthorn art plus a look at hawthorn meaning, symbolism, stories, folklore and traditions...

Hawthorn, commonly known as whitethorn or may, is one of our most beautiful spring trees in the countryside, where you will often see it in hedgerows festooned with tiny, white, pungently-scented blossoms, during the month of May.

Hawthorn is a native tree to the British Isles and in Irish Brehon law, dating from early Celtic times, the hawthorn was known as a ‘peasant tree’.

Historic pollen records show hawthorn was in Britain at least as early as 6000BC.

The Gaelic name for hawthorn is ‘huath’ – which may also relate to the Anglo-Saxon word ‘haw’ which is believed to mean ‘hedge’.

Hawthorn is now widely used as a hedging plant after the 19th century General Enclosures Act, but in earlier times, the wood was used to make small personal items such as knife handles, combs and trinket boxes.

It’s a tree that grows alongside people and has become a part of our lives and traditions…

In this previous post, I spoke about a renewed interest in our Celtic history and culture, my personal links with this, and how I’ll be introducing Celtic knotwork elements into my nature-inspired artworks.

I also mentioned calligraphy as part of this. Calligraphy is another hobby I followed keenly as a child – right into my 20s I’d create calligraphy and decorated lettering for friends and family, often to celebrate births and marriages.

I’m afraid that in the last 20 years, I’ve rather left that by the wayside as illnesses and adult responsibilities caught up with myself and my household. But now, as with Celtic knotwork, my calligraphy is something that I’m recommitting myself to and learning/re-learning calligraphic skills.
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