MEGALITHS
I have had a great interest for many years in megaliths and ancient sacred sites, particularly in Ireland. They hold a universal appeal and their symbolism is very powerful. As a watercolourist, I find this medium very well suited to expressing the spirit of these magical places, as the water moves in ways that cannot always be controlled, thus allowing for that element, the unknown, to appear.
We can never understand exactly why they were erected, and for what purpose. That is part of their fascination for us. We do know certainly that their builders had an advanced knowledge of astronomy. We moderns can only pay homage to the ancients as we struggle to interpret their mighty work which has lasted through thousands of years. And so for the artist it is an incredible channel, a means of connecting with our long distant past, and with our ancestors.
All of these paintings of Dolmens , Standing Stones & Portals, express the energies & mysterious forces that are present in these massive arrangements of ancient stones.
“...we stand and marvel at these ancient sites and this is how it should be because these unlikely masses of stone – heaved, levered and shoved into place - these temples of stone are testaments to our ancestors quest for knowledge and to their ability to change the world”
- Carleton Jones, 'Temples of Stone, Exploring the Megalithic tombs of Ireland'
“...all that was divine in the land retreated to the grave-mounds and to the lonely places”
- John Moriarty, ‘Invoking Ireland’
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