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The Old Man in the Loch
'who, unfortunately, lost his head in a very severe storm half a century ago,' - Skye: The Island and Its Legends by Otta F. Swire (1961)
Taghairm
Left alone all night in the wilds beneath the stars and the darting people, spirits are called up from the vasty deep for answers.
The Water Bulls
Magic Abound in the Belly of the Earth
In the fading Cailleach Bheurra, Brìdghe slowly stirs with the promise of Spring. 'Come Brìdghe, come Brìdghe, make your bed,' dancers with linens sing round cradle and effigy of straw, shell, rush, wool, and reed. Imbolc (meaning: 'in the womb') marks the light slowly returning, so time to shake the house! Put on a bassy banger to wake the neighbours and the dead, turn the lights off, serenade a ewe, set fire to something, eat too much cheese. Clear the old, welcome the new, fan away past smoke and rave to new possibilities.
Epiphyte
A witch becomes one with the roots of the earth.
The Drummer and The Dance (P3/3)
Deep underground in the hall of the High King and Queen, Sine played for the seelie court for centuries that passed like minutes.
The Drummer and the Dead (2/3)
The weekend last 2000 years for the barred spectres. To Sine's surprise, they were sound about the turn their night had taken. They calmed it centuries back. Apologised to The Guard. Made pals with an oak in the queue. Nice boys, Sine thought, as they talked drums, incorporeality, and the line up, before carrying on into the hall.
The Drummer and the Guard (P1/3)
(2024)
Normally, the guard would uproot themselves to dispatch any who dared venture up to the hall uninvited, but they loved a good bodhrán and Sine killed it at the sessions, so they turned a blind eye just this once.
Normally, the guard would uproot themselves to dispatch any who dared venture up to the hall uninvited, but they loved a good bodhrán and Sine killed it at the sessions, so they turned a blind eye just this once.
Misdial
(2024)
A red ghost haunts a bridge over the Kilmartin river on the Isle of Skye. Across the island there are many old telephone boxes, wind battered and defunct. One near Marishadder was taken away a few years ago due to repeated storm damage. Every year it would be repaired, only for its door to be smashed or entirely ripped off again during the Winter, the cycle repeating for many years until the labour of love eventually ran its course. Each journey along our road is a reminder of its lack of use in life and absence in death, its grave marked by a mossy slab of concrete. Last year, a friend introduced me to a Speaking Stone near the Staffin slipway. The large boulder is apparently one of an island-wide network that trades and stores messages. Past, present, and future. Recently I have been thinking a lot about the old telephone box and the much older provider a few miles away. How we communicate, how we reach out to others, how the means can fail or be abandoned and its purpose forgotten. That’s not to say the Speaking Stones have been forgotten, quite the opposite, however, their signification as a means of communication certainly has. If you didn’t know about the stone’s properties, you would see it as nothing more than just that, a stone. But the red phone box certainly was forgotten, and others like it, abandoned as a means of connection. It died a strange death, like its many counterparts across the country, in plain sight, maintained to the bare minimum for aesthetic value, prosperity, or a slim chance of emergency use. Ultimately, the rival, more senior telephone provider won out. The Speaking Stones remain, and the phone booths slowly fade. The red ghost and its voice succumbed to an indifferent nature. The land and our good neighbours favouring the old ways of speaking, between time, place and people. It endures in showing up, in community, in sessions, in storytelling, and folklore. In being present with our chosen, face to face, as opposed to disembodiment. This is a very literal take. Visually on the nose, but an honest attempt to communicate these ideas. As for bird wane and cavity face flanking the box: they’re just waiting for the spirit to hang up. In the case of the rising symbols, some are the design of witches and pagans, relating specifically to Winter and the God Taranis, the rest are some faerie punk eavesdroppers and past callers on the red ghost.
A red ghost haunts a bridge over the Kilmartin river on the Isle of Skye. Across the island there are many old telephone boxes, wind battered and defunct. One near Marishadder was taken away a few years ago due to repeated storm damage. Every year it would be repaired, only for its door to be smashed or entirely ripped off again during the Winter, the cycle repeating for many years until the labour of love eventually ran its course. Each journey along our road is a reminder of its lack of use in life and absence in death, its grave marked by a mossy slab of concrete. Last year, a friend introduced me to a Speaking Stone near the Staffin slipway. The large boulder is apparently one of an island-wide network that trades and stores messages. Past, present, and future. Recently I have been thinking a lot about the old telephone box and the much older provider a few miles away. How we communicate, how we reach out to others, how the means can fail or be abandoned and its purpose forgotten. That’s not to say the Speaking Stones have been forgotten, quite the opposite, however, their signification as a means of communication certainly has. If you didn’t know about the stone’s properties, you would see it as nothing more than just that, a stone. But the red phone box certainly was forgotten, and others like it, abandoned as a means of connection. It died a strange death, like its many counterparts across the country, in plain sight, maintained to the bare minimum for aesthetic value, prosperity, or a slim chance of emergency use. Ultimately, the rival, more senior telephone provider won out. The Speaking Stones remain, and the phone booths slowly fade. The red ghost and its voice succumbed to an indifferent nature. The land and our good neighbours favouring the old ways of speaking, between time, place and people. It endures in showing up, in community, in sessions, in storytelling, and folklore. In being present with our chosen, face to face, as opposed to disembodiment. This is a very literal take. Visually on the nose, but an honest attempt to communicate these ideas. As for bird wane and cavity face flanking the box: they’re just waiting for the spirit to hang up. In the case of the rising symbols, some are the design of witches and pagans, relating specifically to Winter and the God Taranis, the rest are some faerie punk eavesdroppers and past callers on the red ghost.
The Dying Time
(2024)
During the festival of Samhain, the portals of the otherworld open, permitting the dead and faeries to roam the night free. At this time, to appease the darkness and ensure the survival of the community and its livestock through the harsh winter months, great fires were lit and the spirits fed with offerings of food and drink. In keeping with this ancient tradition, an assembly of Guisers feed the night and its unseen mouths by the fire’s embers.
During the festival of Samhain, the portals of the otherworld open, permitting the dead and faeries to roam the night free. At this time, to appease the darkness and ensure the survival of the community and its livestock through the harsh winter months, great fires were lit and the spirits fed with offerings of food and drink. In keeping with this ancient tradition, an assembly of Guisers feed the night and its unseen mouths by the fire’s embers.
Cernunnos
(2024)
An imagining of the ancient Gaulish God of nature, animals, fertility, and defiant local identity in the face of invasion. Drawing this in the Autumn months, I chose to show this Horned God shifting with the seasons, from verdant Summer to the decay of Autumn.
An imagining of the ancient Gaulish God of nature, animals, fertility, and defiant local identity in the face of invasion. Drawing this in the Autumn months, I chose to show this Horned God shifting with the seasons, from verdant Summer to the decay of Autumn.
An Offering
(2024)
A devotee pays tribute to a river deity.
A devotee pays tribute to a river deity.
Playtime
(2024)
After hours, among what remains of St. Peter’s Seminary, two children play in the shadows. This drawing is inspired by a visit to this incredible graffitied and overgrown example of brutalist architecture abandoned in Cardross. It was a joy to explore with a group of friends, a place of decay and rebirth, coated in layers of uncanny urban folk art.
After hours, among what remains of St. Peter’s Seminary, two children play in the shadows. This drawing is inspired by a visit to this incredible graffitied and overgrown example of brutalist architecture abandoned in Cardross. It was a joy to explore with a group of friends, a place of decay and rebirth, coated in layers of uncanny urban folk art.
The Metal Man of Storr
Rejig of the 'Metal Man of Storr' I drew back in 2018, a far future solar punk vision of the Isle of Skye.
Those Who Spin Black Thread at Night
(2024)
In the Scottish Highlands and Islands it is said to be unlucky to wind black thread at night as it disappears and is often used by the faeries. Whether The Norns, the Greek Fates, Athena, the Valkyrie, the creation myths of the Dogon or spinners sabotaged or aided by the good neighbours, textiles have featured prominently in folklore internationally, the processes and craft of women historically associated with spinning, knitting, sewing, stitching and weaving, have been used as metaphors and expressions of identity, mortality, creation, relationship, story, and divination, within our world and others. Unsurprisingly, it is associated with the practice of magic and the unseen, because in its purest form it is magic, a conjuring, a thought-form. This illustration, as part of an ongoing folklore series, attempts to interpret that socio-cultural tapestry in the form of night spinners, weaving the unknowable tapestry of our lives.
In the Scottish Highlands and Islands it is said to be unlucky to wind black thread at night as it disappears and is often used by the faeries. Whether The Norns, the Greek Fates, Athena, the Valkyrie, the creation myths of the Dogon or spinners sabotaged or aided by the good neighbours, textiles have featured prominently in folklore internationally, the processes and craft of women historically associated with spinning, knitting, sewing, stitching and weaving, have been used as metaphors and expressions of identity, mortality, creation, relationship, story, and divination, within our world and others. Unsurprisingly, it is associated with the practice of magic and the unseen, because in its purest form it is magic, a conjuring, a thought-form. This illustration, as part of an ongoing folklore series, attempts to interpret that socio-cultural tapestry in the form of night spinners, weaving the unknowable tapestry of our lives.
Dance at Dusk
A friend of mine is a ribbon dancer, and while living in Glasgow, I spent many afternoons watching her practice in the Green and Kelvingrove Park. Last year, while researching folklore from the Highlands and Islands, a spectacular sunset painted the Trotternish Ridge. It was a privilege to witness and got me thinking about Lughnasadh or Lùnastal, of mountain harvest rituals, including dancing, sacrificing, and feasting to curry favour from the otherworld while the powers at be fought for the harvest. A dance battle between Crom Dubh, who hoards the grain, and Lugh who takes it for the world (though the figure of Crom Dubh is contentious as there is no pre-Christian record of their existence – however there was likely an older icon of blight and starvation)
The Witch and The Thief
(2024)
In the 1700s, upon a man's death, lairds would often send a ground officer to take the best horse or cow from the widower, even if she had only one. Often a death sentence. One such incident occurred on Skye’s North end. When one such officer returned from feasting, they found the horse and cow they had stolen, missing. Soon a local witch appeared, and so terrorised him, he never came back. The animals were promptly returned to their rightful owner (Source: William Mackenzie, 'Old Skye Tales: Traditions, Reflections and Memories,’ 1930). This illustration is inspired by that story. I don't wish to offend any Skye covens by portraying a peer committing arson. No buildings were raised, magically or otherwise. Just thought it looked awesome. Please don't fill my teapots with slugs!
In the 1700s, upon a man's death, lairds would often send a ground officer to take the best horse or cow from the widower, even if she had only one. Often a death sentence. One such incident occurred on Skye’s North end. When one such officer returned from feasting, they found the horse and cow they had stolen, missing. Soon a local witch appeared, and so terrorised him, he never came back. The animals were promptly returned to their rightful owner (Source: William Mackenzie, 'Old Skye Tales: Traditions, Reflections and Memories,’ 1930). This illustration is inspired by that story. I don't wish to offend any Skye covens by portraying a peer committing arson. No buildings were raised, magically or otherwise. Just thought it looked awesome. Please don't fill my teapots with slugs!
Visitors
(2024)
A gang of spectral Cat-sìth stop by the blackhouse of a local cunning woman.
A gang of spectral Cat-sìth stop by the blackhouse of a local cunning woman.
Fortress of Shadows
Aircraft
(2024)
A coven of witches takes flight.
A coven of witches takes flight.
Sunday Drive
(2024)
For some babies, a car journey can prove a remedy for a restless night.
For some babies, a car journey can prove a remedy for a restless night.
The Herd
(2024)
Inspired by the old tradition of swimming cattle between grazing, the last of which practiced by Iain MacDonald who swam his herd between Staffin Island to Skye and back again. In this drawing, one such crofter and his animals get a lift from some supernatural…or extraterrestrial force.
Inspired by the old tradition of swimming cattle between grazing, the last of which practiced by Iain MacDonald who swam his herd between Staffin Island to Skye and back again. In this drawing, one such crofter and his animals get a lift from some supernatural…or extraterrestrial force.
The Pirate of Pabay
(2024)
Many years have passed. The forest is gone, and an old man’s hope with it, resigning himself to an end of his own design. The shadow victorious.
Many years have passed. The forest is gone, and an old man’s hope with it, resigning himself to an end of his own design. The shadow victorious.
The Pirates of Pabay II
(2024)
Retreating deeper into the wounds, the surviving bandits bury their accomplices while devoured slowly by their misdeeds. The shadow fattens as they mourn their lives along with the loss of their friends’.
Retreating deeper into the wounds, the surviving bandits bury their accomplices while devoured slowly by their misdeeds. The shadow fattens as they mourn their lives along with the loss of their friends’.
The Pirates of Pabay
(2024 - Shortlisted for the international poster competition)
Wounded and spent from a life on the run, wanted men await the arrival of their would-be executioners, while the manifestation of their guilt and greed bides its time. The Priest’s Isle can be found in Skye’s Inner Sound and in the 16th century its once dense woods were the hideout of coastal bandits which according to legend, enlisted the aid of demonic powers to stay a step ahead of the clans that pursued them.
Wounded and spent from a life on the run, wanted men await the arrival of their would-be executioners, while the manifestation of their guilt and greed bides its time. The Priest’s Isle can be found in Skye’s Inner Sound and in the 16th century its once dense woods were the hideout of coastal bandits which according to legend, enlisted the aid of demonic powers to stay a step ahead of the clans that pursued them.
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