Irish Eyes

Connemara, County Galway, Ireland

It seems that spring has suddenly become thrust upon us. After the endlessly mild winter, it feels strange and all at once too soon. I feel torn in a hundred different directions, my attention drawn away from studio work and with the month nearly over, I realized in a panic that I hadn’t given half a thought to the March blog post.

The seeds I’d saved from last years herbs are ready to be planted in my seed starter mix. My herbal skin care course is finally getting into the good stuff and is mostly through all of the science-y slog… I don’t know if I’ll retain all of that, but I’ve taken copious notes to fall back on. I want to indulge in learning all of the various herbal preparations, but there’s so much other work to be done.

Dunguaire Castle, County Galway, Ireland

Having been adopted as a small child, and with scant history of my biological family, I was eager to use the 23 and Me DNA kit that I received as a Christmas gift. I subsequently discovered that most of my DNA was inherited from my Irish grandmother. For years I’ve been drawn to novels based in Ireland and although not well versed in Celtic legend, I’ve had a strong curiosity about the mythology and symbolism. Now I am absolutely dying to delve more deeply into this and see what kind of art it inspires.

My very first Celtic Knot attempts

You may remember that I belong to The Handmade Book Club and make journals (just for fun). Along with all of the book making tutorials, we also have guest artists each month who teach us various mixed media techniques. This month we leaned how to draw Celtic knots. Predictably apropos for the recent St. Patty’s Day, but also excitingly appropriate for my rekindled interest in my Irish heritage! And of course I’m already working on ideas of how to weave these fascinating designs into my jewelry… stay tuned! I see an entirely new line on the horizon!