© Brian Jones 2007 Back to Archive Paintings Gallery

‘Ogham Cycle’ date : 1990 - present size : 6ft. x 8ft. medium : oil and mixed media. notes : One of a series of works in progress which developed from the artist's landscape works of the 1980's. comment : “As well as my other works, I've always loved trees, and been interested in old alphabets. I started the process of abstracting trees while still doing my degree. The early ones were ‘just paintings’ in that they were pictorial representations of physical objects +/or places. I first looked at Scandinavian runic letters, and incorporated these into some works, though I then came across the Ogham alphabet, which held a far more personal resonance. The Ogham script was used throughout the British Isles (most notably in Ireland) in ‘Celtic times’; consisting of a series of ‘notches’ made across a horizontal (or vertical) line, it was used, by the Druids amongst others, for inscriptions ranging from memorials to spells. It was a tree alphabet, also known as the Beth Luis Nuin (= Birch, Rowan, Ash), after the first three letters / trees of the alphabet. It was also a calendar of 13 lunar months, with each month designated its own tree and letter. It can be seen purely as a practical decorative work, or looked at more closely, a longer term piece. It may take me another 5 years to complete, but there's no rush. For further reading on the Ogham alphabet, ‘The White Goddess’ by Robert Graves is a good starting point”.

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