Norwegian Folk Tales

A captured princess with the sleeping troll




The Seven Swans










The Goose Girl

Brigid

The ancient Irish Goddess Brigid ruled over smith craft, healing, poetry and whistling. She had an ever burning sacred fire, and the sisters of a later St. Brigid still tend that same fire along with her holy well. She was queen of heaven, her symbol, the holy dove.

This illustration is painted and embroidered fabric.

Celtic Tale of Finn MacCool and Sava

Finn was a great hero of Celtic tales. He came to protect an enchanted fairy maiden from an evil Sorcerer who had changed her into a fawn. When Sava was with Finn, the Sorcerer had no power over her. Finn fell in love with Sava and they were married. Their child, Oison, became a brave champion as well as a poet and story teller.

Flying Children

Peter Pan, the lost boy who never grew up. Dream land, Never-Never land, the place even grown-ups go in their sleep and fantasies.

Selkie

The Selkie race live as seals, but can be transformed into humans by taking off their seal coats. They often married and had children with humans if their coat was taken or lost, but if it was ever found again, the temptation to return to the sea would be too great and they would abandon their human family to return to their home.

Mothers

Mother and child, an archetypal image. So many mother/child figures in myth, folk and fairy tale. Creation stories, tales of heroes and heroines. Persephone and Demeter, Mary and Jesus, Isis and Horus. Even tales of mothers caring for their children after they are dead and buried, as in Cinderella who's mother speaks to her through a tree, or Snow White who is protected by the handkerchief containing three drops of her mothers blood.

Swan Lake

The enchanted princess, doomed to be a swan by day and a princess by night until released by true love. Betrayal, deceit, and in the end, doom...

Thumbalina

The Adventures of Thumbalina is marvelous. A coming of age story with so many interesting characters. The swallow, a wise poet, guiding the heroine through many dangers and choices. The meddling, over-protective mouse mother type, and the horrible mole! Kidnapping frogs and beetles, kind fish and in the end, finally joined with her own kind: the fairies!

Little Woodland Troll

Not all trolls are huge. Here is a little woodland troll, who protects the fauna and flora of the woods.

...more Old Folks...TROLLS!

I like to think of trolls as our original Earth guardians. They say in the beginning were the FROST GIANTS and from their toes came the races of humans, trolls, elves, dwarfs, gnomes and the rest of us humanoids. Trolls always seemed to be trying to keep the human rrace in balance; limiting access to wild spaces, protecting forests, hills and mountains mostly. No wonder they become outraged and stomp on village churches and try to scare humans away. Above is the King of Trolls. Notice the knots in his tail. They are a sign of importance and rank. The more knots, the higher the rank.



This is the Troll Wanderer. Many trolls are driven from their wild spaces by development and human over-population. Perhaps this wanderer doesn't have it in him to fight back, so he becomes a wanderer, always looking for a wild space to call his own and protect.

Old Folk Tales

Old Folk Tales is a project I've had on my mind for many years. Old Fairy and Folk Tales published as cards or in story books. This year I've been focusing on creating illustrations to some of my favorite stories. The following illustrations are both new and old, but all the stories are very old.

Cobby nearly finished!

Summer, then Fall...now WINTER, and Cobby is nearly finished. Behold, some of our mighty COB crew.