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.

INSPIRATION FROM NETFLIX - The Secret of Kells

Directors - Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey ©2009

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0485601

I adore this movie and so does my 2.5 year old (yes he is a little young for it but he loves it… he calls it his tiger one). I have had the opportunity to watch this movie a lot lately. I mean a lot. Did I mention almost daily…. Now I sit back with my sketchbook and watch with artist eyes.

It is beautiful – I did an imdb search and was disappointed to not see any more by the director or art director. So then I went to the library and looked for the Book of Kells, And found a beautiful book about it. I also found a book about the making of the Saint John Bible. Funny moment with this film, my painting partner Darcie & I often trade tips on "art obsessed" movies, books & the like. She said she saw something animated that I simply must see and I cut her off and said "Secret of Kells." We laughed and put it on the TV as we crafted away.

I wanted to start a prayer flag project and over the next week I will show you how the Secret of Kells inspired me to do more research then eventually do an illumination project of my own!