Show & Tell - Prayer Flags

Secret of Kells - Prayer Flag Project

I have long been inspired by Tibetian Prayer Flags. Tibetian's believe the wind carries the intentions of the writing & imagery on the flags out into the world for the benefit of all living beings. I wanted to create a set that wound these beliefs, my Christian beliefs and the beauty of illuminations, all into one project that will hang both at my church on Easter Sunday & at my home over the door frame for summer.

I started with researching the colors of the flags and thier meanings- then I made a map and found biblical verses & book of common prayer writings to add to each flag.

Materials -

• I made paper-fabric (toutorial to come),



• then fused a layer of ciffon over the top.



• I backed each flag in hand-painted fabric



• with a layer of fast2fuse inbetween.



• finally I hand-stiched buttons & scraps to make them hang.

They are unique, heartfelt & I love them. So the Kells blog is done. But my friend already pointed out that a lot of my stuff is starting to have a Kells-ish look. I believe in all we take in becomes an opportunity to shuffle it up and create something new with it.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you walk along the road, when you are going to bed and when you wake. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorposts of your home and on you gates. Deuteronomy 6:5-9

FROM THE LIBRARY - Illuminating the Word

Illuminating the Word : Making of The Saint John's Bible, by Christopher Calderhead, ©2005

Secret of Kells project continued-As I bounced around the library search engine this book popped up, called by most "the American book of Kells" I was intrigued... This is the backstory on the Saint John's Bible commissioned by Saint John's Monastery in honor the Millennium celebration.

The book of Kells inspired me as a history, but the artwork in the Saint John's bible got me to thinking about how I could illuminate the word in my own life. It is a great and interesting thing undertake illuminating the biblical text by hand in a era of very little being done by hand. A modern day Scriptorium was born and letter artists came together to illuminate.

Why? One of the monks explain "The word becomes sacramental. It is not just a text, it is like the Eucharist: A visual image of the Word." Engaging people especially young people to encounter the scripture in a new way.

I am feeling inspired... off to the studio.

From the Library - The Book of Kells

The Book of Kells: Reproductions from the Manuscript in Trinity College Dublin, ©1974

Secret of Kells project continued ~

This is a beautiful book that I flipped through then more intentionally sat and took out my sketchbook and here are the results. Very little of this could be considered copies. This is meant to be more of homage to the book itself, than a copy. I am always trying to bend drawings to make sure I can then use those in my original artwork.

· HHistory of the Manuscript - Said to be of the Early Middle Ages, it is a Gospel Text, in Latin long lines, written on calf vellum, the age of the pages had a beauty to them, I loved the stitching that is visible in the high res plates in the book. Quills were the tools for both the text & illuminations. Other tools they were thought to have - rulers, set-squares, compasses, and early french curves. Housed in Trinity College in Dublin (Check Dublin just got a star next to it in my travel journal).

I loved the illuminated Celtic beginnings, knot work and crazy creatures. It is a stunning achievement of precision craftsmanship.

INSPIRATION FOR THE FLAGS~ I put an alphabet together to work on the prayer flags… loosely based on the text in the book of Kells.

Tomorrow the St. John’s Bible – Yummy book.

Secret of Kells inspiration- peek into my sketchbook

After watching the movie a lot... I have been sketching with Kells on the brain. Here r some of my sketches from the movie. Tommorow I will share the book of Kells...