“Woodland Kings I”

Mixed media embroidery

The Woodland Kings series are designed in pairs, one showing the Oak King and one the Holly King. In pagan mythology, based on Welsh legend, the Oak King and Holly King do battle for the love of the sun at both midwinter and midsummer. At midwinter, the Oak King, with his association to the sky god, is victorious, leading to longer days, warmer temperatures and a burgeoning of growth. At midsummer, the Holly King, linked to gods of the earth and the underworld, defeats him, and days grow shorter, plants die back and nature turns inward towards rest and renewal. At midwinter, the battle repeats, completing the cycle of the year.

Each work is a pair of mixed media textile pictures of Green Men representing the two sides of the year: Oak King and Holly King.

As with the green men, these were originally doodles in a sketchbook (drawn on a plane!) which I had made into thermofax screens for printing on various dyed and printed grounds, before layering with organza, stitching by machine and burning out to reveal the ground.

Neutral wood frames, ivory matts with lightweight plexiglas glazing.