9. The Shield, 1997
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I discovered this text from the Exeter Book of Riddles which dates from the Anglo Saxon times. This is a riddle that describes the attributes of a shield, and so I set about designing a possible shield design that would provide a suitable background. Although not truly Celtic in origin maybe, the manuscripts were written in Anglo Saxon times and if we look at the artwork in Scandinavia at the time there are considerable similarities. However after reading and selecting one of these riddles I thought it would be a good idea to present it on what could be the pattern on the shield itself. This also has the sneaky advantage of making the words harder to read, thus making the riddle even harder to solve! Although the design is relatively simple, this picture was very hard to do. I draw and paint all my pictures by hand and trying to get the lettering to stand out was pretty hard. Also I set myself the challenge in this picture of not using a black outline to the knots but just to use the red and white paint. I feel happy that I got what I was trying to achieve and it is surprising how many people stand and read the text when the picture is shown.