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Painting #28 of #Paint52

Trinity knot Painting Mlighthipe ยฉ2012

Painting # 28 comes from my class with Val Webb. We learned how to do some simple Celtic Knot designs. I liked the simplicity of the Trinity Knot and decided to challenge myself with doing a complicated beetle design. I have always been super fond of beetles and I thought it would be challenging to work with Iridescence and bright colors. It was a bit tricky at first to create the "triquetra" because I had to make sure it was big enough for me to be able to squeeze in all the detail I wanted. I also didn't want it to be too big. I finally settled on a 6" x 6" square. I then started to draw in the beetles and where the strand went under the other I had to figure what part of the beetle would begin to disappear. It reminded me of the work of  MC Esher. I have always adored his amazing work. The detail and the way he worked with perspective in my opinion has never been so successfully rendered.

Here is a little bit of history regarding The Celtic Trinity Knot, or the triquetra knot. The word Triquetra comes from Latin, and means "three-cornered."
When I think of the word "Trinity" it immediately reminds me of the word Christians use for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In doing some reading on the subject I found out that the Celts created this symbol  way before Christianity. The pagan school of thought sees the trinity knot as the drawing of the three inherent feminine powers: Maiden, Mother, and Crone (Older Woman). It is used in the practice of Wiccans and Neopagans.

Here are more meanings that I found:
    •    spirit, mind, body
    •    mother, father, child
    •    past, present, future
    •    power, intellect, love
    •    creator, destroyer, sustainer
    •    creation, preservation, destruction
    •    thought, feeling, emotion
    •    earth, air, and water
    •    life, death, and rebirth

My dad was an English teacher and his interest in language and folklore has always been present in my art. It is interesting to find the meanings behind symbols and words. For me, beetles are a symbol of the past, present and future. They are the largest group of animals on the planet, (350,000- 450,000 different ties of beetles on earth today.)with the greatest variety in textures and color patterns. They are found in the past. The scarab beetle signified creation and I am sure that they will out live us in the future!

Do you have a favorite symbol that you have worked with? I would love to hear your thoughts about what kind of symbols fascinate you!