Behold, a Nadder
Did you know the old english for serpent ‘a nǣddre’ became ‘an adder’?
Having finished my adder print, I was looking up the symbology and folklore of cormorants this week, as I periodically have the urge to draw one; I often saw them when I lived in Southampton and now even though I moved inland, I still see them on the river Thames, and the lake near my house. Love them; I love that they, too, moved inland and I like their long eel-like necks, and the way they hold their wings out to dry them (the feathers are not water resistant, which makes them good at diving).
Like so many animals I love, crows and magpies, the cormorant is not beloved to the Christian west. They are too dark, too black, too sinister, I suppose. I too, am sinister, being left handed, so these things come naturally.
I recently discovered a term in Welsh- ‘broad headed red snake’, I think it was , that meant the devil. The devil is often associated with animals I like, magpies, ravens, goats, bats, spiders and now snakes. It’s very hard, because I want to draw and make prints of animals I love, and yet, they seem to be unpopular. It’s hard to make a living as an artist when all you want to do is make prints of things people dislike, is what I’m saying.
Still, I have finished my adder, or the first printing thereof, because I’d like to do more colours, though I can’t really afford that until I sell some. I tried to do a quite traditional colour scheme; a pale mossy green with slightly darker copper and brown to show the scales; my initial intention was to do the traditional ‘zigzag’ markings in a deep black. It tried that, and I hated it. I hated dark brown too, I don’t know why, it just wasn’t right.
Finally I tried a very see-through, shimmery layer of the same copper brown, which I loved; I loved the texture it left, very snake skin, and I loved the fade vintage colour, like some Victorian natural history print. I am pleased with this, because it is mine, because the pose he is in a symbolic and I drew it from my mind, because I learnt so much in the carving.even if I don’t sell a single copy, I think it is good.
Also, look at his adder eye. Adder eyes are amazing, red and gold. I dusted it with gold shimmer powder to make sure it was sufficiently sparkly.
Word has it one of the little owl chicks from the summer died; my son told me so, I think he heard it at the countryside centre so I suppose someone there found the remains. It’s sad, but a large number of owlets don’t make it through the winter, and I still hear little owls in the garden, so some are still alive. The tawnies are loud and hooting vigorously, and there is a barn owl somewhere around screaming like a banshee at night. I should probably do an owl print- people like owls, right?
Love the photo of the ghostly tree! I too enjoy magpies, ravens and crows especially. They are so interesting to observe, they are beauties in my mind. We sometimes see adders here, in the park and woods. I almost stepped on one this summer, which feels like ages ago now. Your adder artwork reminds me of a rich Roman jewel, it is both elegant and mysterious.