Inspired by the witches hair lichen on Dartmoor, I delved into the internet to find out more about it. And one connection led to another. The first thing I found was its latin name which is Alectoria Sarmentosa.
When I typed the word into google I found a similar first word – Alectorus Rufa which is a red legged partridge and happens to be a bird found on the moors (although most have probably been shot over the years so they are pretty elusive)
This then led me to another ‘Alec’ word…. Alectryomancy, which is a form of divination using birds to predict the future often used by the Ancient Greeks and later the Romans and probably the Celts too. There were many ways to predict the future from birds, some involved counting birds, which direction they were flying, or how many times they called at a particular time.
For this print I drew on another way they looked for prophecies and that was the act of throwing seed over letters drawn on the ground, and letting a cockerel eat them to reveal words or arrangements of letters.
This led me to the Ogham alphabet!
Originally an early medieval Irish text carved into the ancient stones in Ireland, there have been subsequent stones found in Scotland and on Dartmoor with Celtic Ogham text inscribed .
So my red legged partridge was asked a question and she is forming the answer in Ogham.
There are different versions of this variable limited edition print available here. The one above is painted in gouache, there are other versions painted in my handmade inks. Below middle is the gouache, either side are painted using inks I have made from hawthorn berries, gorse flower petals, rowan berries, bracken and oak gall. All versions use red gouache as I couldn’t find a berry to make red. The one on the left I painted the Ogham text in brass Liquid Metal paint which is an option.
Although I have done what I can to prevent fading, the prints using handmade Dartmoor inks are not guaranteed to have lasting colour. They might even change colour! (The colours have already changed as they dried. The red hawthorn became blue (shown below in the bird throat and in the rocks) and the pinky orange rowan became green and a perfect colour for the lichen.
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