Saturday 12 January 2013

Winter and a return to Ginnungagap.

After weeks of temperatures hovering between 6 and 10˚, grey skies and rain, we finally woke up to Winter.



I've put up photos of my latest series of small oil and cold wax paintings on my website.

It's titled Élivágar.  

The name comes from Norse Creation Mythology and was the general name given the eleven rivers (or Storm Waves) which existed at the Beginning.  They filled the great void Ginnungagap with ice, which formed the Frost Giant: Ymir, father of all giants, from whose slain body the world was created.

The story can be found in Snorri Sturluson's "The Prose Edda", a compilation and retelling of Norse Myth put together in Iceland in the first half of the Thirteenth Century.  It occurs in the section titled "Gylfaginning" and it goes like this in my version:

"When those rivers, which are called Elivagar [Storm Waves], came so far from their source, the poisonous flow hardened like a slag of cinders running from a furnace, and became ice.  When this ice began to solidify and no longer ran, poisonous drops spewed out and froze into icy rime [hoar frost].  Then layer by layer, the ice grew within Ginnungagap."  [Snorri Sturluson: The Prose Edda, trans. Jesse L. Byock (London: Penguin Classics, 2005), 13.]

(élivágar 2  oil and cold wax on wood, 30 x 30 cm.)

Over the next while, I'm going to continue reading and musing, sketching and painting.  There are a few other pieces on the go. The return of Winter makes it easier to delve into these stories of the frozen North.  Tales of Gods and Goddesses; of battles and trickery; Giants, Dwarves, of the time Before.  It's always fascinating, and sometimes surprising, to see how inspiration takes shape in one's work.


11 comments:

  1. Gosh, I'm impressed with your website, the image on the homepage of a blue painting is especially lovely. Hope that goes well for you. I keep meaning to do such a thing but as yet it is beyond me. We are expecting winter next week. Hope it's a bit brighter.

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    1. Thanks, Jane. I've been lucky that my husband has the patience to figure out how this freeware web-design programme works, and was able to put my website together for me. It's great then, whenever I have new pieces, we can get them add them relatively easily.
      I hope that winter has finally made its way to you!

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  2. JUST the kind of stories - both in words and images - that I'm in the mood for right now. I have dark, winter nights and owls in my visual stories of late, and I'm listening to Norwegian folk while in the studio, which definitely sets the scene for the work. I enjoyed taking a look at your web site.

    We're now in a very warm and melting moment :( all the snow is soft and dripping and there are glaciers curling over the metal roofs of my house, slamming down on the ground or another metal roof (just to wake one up) and its QUITE active, unlike the frozen quiet that January is usually. I'm looking forward to getting back to winter to do some more Northern journeying.

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    1. It's beautiful, Valerianna, how the winter has crept into your works lately. Winter is so much a time for tales. I wish I had a fire place to sit before in the evenings reading these tales to my boys. One of my goals is to get to know these stories well enough that I could recite them, not have to read them from books.
      I'm going to have to look up some Norwegian folk music - might be just what I need in my studio too.
      I hope your January grows restful and quiet again soon.

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  3. Thank you for sharing this story, fascinating. I love to hear the tales from different countries. Happy New year and heres to lots of lovely creativity.

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    1. So glad you liked it, Ruthie! It's always interesting to hear which things they have in common, and which are unique.
      Happy New Year and a big *YES* to its being a creative one!

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  4. Ah, some of my favorite tales are from the Kalevala and The Volsung Saga. I'm actually making illustrations for The Volsung Saga, and you're right, this time of years is perfect for those cold, dark, frozen tales so full of magic.

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    1. I find those stories really resonate with me.
      I've just visited your blog - it's beautiful.
      I'd love to see your illustrations for the Volsung Saga. Do hope you post them!

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  5. I love this, Lynn! The weaving of myth and winter land and wild. We don't get snow here, really, so I am a bit jealous-there is so much deep and rich cyclic wisdom to learn from that slow white freeze. Gorgeous. I agree about the resonance of these stories, not sure what it is as I am born and raised in sunny California-- must be the viking blood. :)

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    1. When I was younger, I didn't much like the snow - but now I really crave that time of earth-slumber. The stories that come out of it are different from what come out of other times of the year. Much as the stories which come out of a certain landscape have the essence of that landscape in their marrow.

      While you don't have much snow, you do have a glorious land and sea-scape judging by the photos on you blog!

      Last year on a post I mentioned the idea of the landscape of one's ancestors singing in one's blood - I've come to find that that's so true for many of us. As with the stories - I find the stories of the Northlands resonate with me more than the stories of, say, ancient Greece, wonderful though they are.

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  6. oil and cold wax paintings its so great Lynn. I Love It Very love it
    Harga Printer

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