HAPPY LUGHNASADH

"LUGHNASADH" by Ruthie Redden

Having written three posts about Lughnasadh already, it's hard to come up with something new to celebrate this August 1 holiday. (One of the eight Celtic holidays of the year, Lughnasadh - or Lammas - celebrates the beginning of the harvest.) I was especially greedy with using Internet images in my posts and haven't been able to find any new images that I liked for Lughnasadh 2010.

That is, until I came across this "Lughnasadh" portrait by my Scottish blogging friend, Ruthie Redden. Ruthie paints "tales of folklore and myth, traditions and custom steeped in the Scottish and the Celtic". And, she has just opened her own website through which to sell her art! I am so pleased to use this Lughnasadh Day post to introduce you to her site, "Ruthie Redden": http: http://www.ruthieredden.com/.

Ruthie offers prints and originals of paintings in these themes: Celtic, Fantasy and Fairy, Folklore and Myth, Nature, Creatures and Bits and Pieces, and also offers prints of her fine photography. She also has a "bespoke" design service, for which she does portraits, calligraphy and stationery, including birth and wedding announcements.

Ruthie hasn't added a dollars-to-currency conversion to her site yet, but a British pound is approximately $1.57.

"CARRICK MERMAID"

Ruthie paints beautiful red- and auburn-haired ladies, and this mermaid is no exception. The painting was inspired by "dusky, evening walks along Carrick shore, Kirkcudbrightshire, when sunsets glinting on swirling sea set imagination alight."

"CARDONESS CASTLE HARE"

My witch's purse seems to be unexpectedly empty right now, but as soon as it refills itself again, I'm ordering this print. A Celtic totem (hare), Scottish thistles and a castle - What more could a Scottish lass ask for? "Cardoness Castle, Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries & Galloway, is the 15th century ruined tower house of the McCulloch family".

"MUSIC IN THE FOREST"

Ruthie's paintings speak to my love for Celtic fantasy art. This one was inspired by "walks in the ancient Castramont Wood, Gatehouse of Fleet, listening to the music of the trees."

"COMING HOME"

This painting makes me think of the Scottish tinkers and travelers (sometimes also called gypsies) that I have written about in this blog and my book blog. In fact, it was through Ruthie's blog that I first found some information I had been searching for on the subject of tinkers. This is a portrait of "A gypsy girl amongst the Galloway Hills."

Ruthie's blog, "5 Precious Things" is also delightful. Here is the link: http://5preciousthings.blogspot.com/

Here are my Lammas posts for 2007, 2008 and 2009:

http://celticanamcara.blogspot.com/2009/08/happy-lammaslughnasadh-part-ii.html

http://celticanamcara.blogspot.com/2008/07/happy-lammaslughnasadh.html.

http://celticanamcara.blogspot.com/2007/08/lammastide.html

And here is a Lammas poem:

http://celticanamcara.blogspot.com/2007/08/lammas-poem.html