Magic and Mark-making - 2025 03 20
Last night I decided to stay home and work on my drawing instead of going out to take part in an evening with the Vancouver Folk Song Society.
It was hard to make the choice, because both of these activities are my contribution to the antidote for authoritarianism and feel equally important.
I had a key pattern in progress and I was ready to put the third, final layer of lines, colour and washes. I was curious to see how it would turn out and that is where I put my energy.
In his book, "Celtic art: The methods of construction", George Bain has a chapter on Key Patterns. I have added information from his book to give background about the meaning and significance of key pattern design.
Some Chinese key patterns belong to periods prior to BC 1,000. In the British Museum there is an Egyptian carving showing a key pattern and interlacing dating BC 3500 - BC 3000. Square and diagonal key patterns engraved on mammoth ivories were found in the Ukraine and Yugo-Slavia from the period BC 20,000 - BC 15,000. There is a similarity of these designs to the Celtic key panels of the Ornamental stones of East Pictland and the Books of Durrow, Kells, Lindisfarne and other Early Celtic designs.
I started this design using three pencil crayons in shades of green. I mapped out the geometric pattern underlay with a protractor, ruler and compass. I used the Fibonacci sequence to measure the emanation of concentric rings from the center - they pulse energy outward. The radiating lines were measured off the protractor and subdivided in groups of two or three to provide organizational structure for the key and step patterns.
The second layer on my design was done with green, blue and violet pens. These colours are signify a range of symbology for me. Green symbolizes nature, evolution, growth, and life. Blue symbolizes water, movement, flow, and the eternity of blue sky. Violet symbolizes warmth, depth, darkness, quiet, time for contemplation and discernment. In this layer I mapped out the key and step patterns that interweave and interleave patterns and colours across the geometric foundation. There is no singularity, there is a continuity of movement, from one colour to another, from one shape to another, from one intersection to another.
Key patterns show mathematical and geometrical knowledge in prehistorical societies. They trace back to the earliest evidence of activity of human society and show a sophisticated understanding of concept, design and skill. We belief the meaning of key patterns was that they held magical powers and charms to avert evil.
Key patterns are also found in Pre-Columbus Central American religious decoration. The Mayans decorated interiors and exteriors of their temples prepared stones and bricks to produce key patterns.
The third layer on my design was done with violet and blue pencil crayons, three shades of each; ink tint washes mixed across the colour spectrum from green to violet; white pen and ink highlights to increase contrast, and then, finally, blue and violet pen and ink to add intensity and give definition.
Evidence now shows that key patterns of Britain and Ireland arrived many centuries before the Romans. This suggests that key patterns and spirals were part of art culture before the flooding of Doggerland that separated the British Isles from mainland Europe (approximately BC 6500).
The ink tint wash is applied by picking up the colour in an eyedropper and letting drops fall on the drawing, like tears, from high above the surface. They splatter and I use a straw to blow, like a wind rising from the centre, to disperse the droplets across the surface.
Art culture connections between Scythian, Mycenaean, Cretan, Maltese and the British and Irish Celtic are embodied in key and spiral patterns. Similarly, art culture and art symbols in common have been traced across Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Maya, Chinese and Pictish key patterns, showing affiliation with Ukrainian and Serbian designs. The significance of key and step patterns has endured in art culture across geography and millennia.
I step back from the drawing and wonder what it means, how this work signifies affirmation of life, caring, equality and justice. For me, the undulating colours, the infinite variations of colour, line and shape, give rise to a diverse unity, a strength of life spirit that reaches out to form connections beyond its core structure.
There is magic in colour, line, form, movement, and multi-dimensionality of perception. This is where we grow, this is where we evolve. This is where our love deepens to unbreakable bonds. This is where I find hope.
Bain, G. (1973). Celtic art: The methods of construction. Dover Publ.
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