Banshee (bean sí)

The banshee (bean sí in Irish) is a ghoulish figure from ancient Celtic fairy lore. She is said to appear as an omen of death, wailing and crying outside of the home for a loved one in the house who is soon to die. She is a pretty terrifying figure. Legend has it that the banshee only wails for five different Irish families. I am a descendant of one of those five families, so I felt compelled to portray this wailing wench in all her spooky glory!

I used the Celtic knots and spirals to represent both the banshee's hair and ghostly, whispy lower limbs. Her body is meant to look kind of androgynous. I'm a fan of engraving style artwork, so I used lots of lines on her body to create some depth, but they also look like they could be scars or tattoos of some kind. Basically, I tried to make her look creepy. Hopefully, I achieved that through mixing the engraving style into this.

Initial sketch

Sketch continued

Final product!

SHOP BANSHEE APPAREL AND ACCESSORIES!!!

'The Green Man', or 'Jack o' the Green'

Is he a symbol of nature, and the rebirth of nature once winter has retreated and the sun has returned, or is he a symbol of Anglo Saxon resistance to Norman invaders....

THE GREEN MAN

The mysterious Green Man continues to captivate people

This latest design is of the GREEN MAN! This frondescent fellow is very much a mystery, but it is widely accepted that he is a pre-Christian, Celtic nature spirit representing the cycle of life, and the rebirth of plants and nature in the Spring. The green man went into hiding with the spread of Christianity, but vestiges of his viny visage continued to appear in the carvings of churches, chapels, and cathedrals. In fact, there are more than 110 green men carved into the crevices of the esoteric Rosslyn Chapel (the cryptic chapel associated with the Knights Templar after they were disbanded and went into hiding).