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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My Celtic goose art plus goose myth & meaning explored...

The farmyard goose was once widespread across Britain and Ireland – equally so its wild ancestor, the Greylag Goose.

The name is thought to relate to the fact that this grey goose ‘lagged’ behind other geese at migration time and was one of the last to leave for migration. Another suggestion is that it was originally the ‘grey-legged goose’ but since its legs aren’t grey, but orange, I feel this theory is unlikely.

Even in the earliest times, geese were seen as special. In Ancient Egypt, the goose “was the Sun as it emerged from the primeval egg” (Albert Champdour, Le Livre des Morts) – a solar bird-god that laid the golden egg (the sun) each morning.

Pharoahs who identified with the sun were shown with their souls in the shape of a goose. And when a new pharaoh was proclaimed, four wild geese were released to the four corners of the Earth to tell the gods of the new earthly ruler. So the Egyptians saw the goose as a messenger between heaven and earth.

My Celtic Holly art - plus a look at holly folklore, tales, meaning & symbolism...

My Celtic hare art – plus I take a dive into hare meaning, myth, folklore, stories, and hare symbolism…

The hare is one of my favourite wild animals – and I’m lucky that I get to see them relatively often as they seem to love the large flat fields we have here in the east of Yorkshire.

I’ve watched them boxing in fields in March, loping across grassy stretches, hunkering down with a flick of the ear, and one summer, I was fortunate enough to regularly see a family of young leverets playing in the early mornings in a field near my home.

Mysterious, swift, wild, otherworldly… the hare is one of our most cherished countryside animals – and far more than just a big rabbit!

If you watch a hare run, it’s almost impossible to mistake her for a rabbit – a hare runs more like a dog or deer, where a rabbit simply hops.

The hare has the ​air of something fleeting – fleet of foot, but also something ephemeral – a wildness that can’t be tamed, a creature that’s not quite of this world…

So the myths, stories and folklore around the beautiful hare are in many ways perfectly understandable and only add to our intrigue with this creature of the wild as we try to entice her through our stories to become a part of our world.
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My Celtic oak art – plus oak meaning, symbolism, myth and stories…

The oak is traditionally seen as the ‘King of the Forest’ or the ‘Father of Trees’. It’s a native British tree that at one time was incredibly widespread – in the time of King Henry VIII one third of Britain was covered in oak forests.

The trees are slow growing - producing hard, valuable timber – and can live to over 700 years old, sometimes 1000 years or more.

The oak is called ‘a garden and a country’ as it provides a whole ecosystem of life from small ferns and other plants growing in its nooks and crannies to fungi, lichen and (rarely) mistletoe – as well as being home to numerous insects, birds, and even small mammals.

Acorns are said to be ‘man’s first food’ in the legends of several different cultures – and humans have used this tree for building, furniture, healing, and food, as well as the tree having symbolic, social, and cultural importance throughout the ages.

Let’s explore our relationship with the oak tree…

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…

​Beautiful Celtic willow art prints and arty products – I explain willow tree symbolism and meaning…

The mystical willow tree is one of our ancient native British trees (White willow, Salix alba) and is a favourite in countryside and gardens.

The willow tree is beautiful – an elegantly-shaped tree that dances in the wind and grows in atmospheric, watery places – so it’s no wonder that people have always taken the willow to their hearts...

In ancient Tibet, the willow was revered as the ‘world tree’ or ‘tree of life’.

Our modern name for the willow comes from the Anglo-Saxon ‘wileg’.

We have a long relationship with the willow tree – we’ve long recognised its usefulness and its special abilities as well as its inherent beauty...

Beautiful Celtic Fox art prints, home decor and accessories... nature, myth, folklore, wild animals - Celtic fox meaning and symbolism...

Do you love a handsome fox? What personality do you associate with the fox?

The clever fox is a very popular wild animal and a well-loved country-dweller and now also a town-dweller that’s always lovely for us to see with her rich red fur...
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The fox has always been a special animal to us, appearing in countless folk tales and known to be part of our lives for thousands of years...
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Beautiful Celtic Tree of Life art prints and arty products by Lotti Brown (2 different tree of life designs)...
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And a look at tree of life meaning, symbolism and history...

I've been having fun with some tree of life designs and now have not one but two gorgeous Celtic art tree of life pieces to inspire you to feel connected with the natural world...

The tree of life is a popular and instantly recognisable Celtic symbol – but its origins go back hundreds or thousands of years and tell us something about our origins as a society and how we thought about our place in the world.

The tree of life is something that unites humanity. There is the concept of a tree of life in many cultures, mythologies and religions, especially Indo-European, Siberian and Native American religions.
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Starlings have got to be one of our most beautiful native British birds, with stunning, iridescent greens and purples in their glossy black feathers and tiny ‘stars’ of glittering white…

They are also graceful birds, with stunning balletic displays in flights of ‘murmurations’ when thousands of birds take to the skies in swirling, mesmerising unison.
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I’ve been so lucky, this winter, to see some close to home as the starlings group together for safety in huge roosts at dusk and trace their meandering route across the skies to these roosts, with their impressive murmurations.