Spirals in a zendala inspired by Book of Kells
I recently took a class in Celtic calligraphy at the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago. It was taught by renowned calligraphy artist Denis Brown. I learned so much. Not just about calligraphy, but also about the Book of Kells and the three manuscripts that preceded it and influenced it. The Book of Kells is a glorious manuscript with wonderful illuminations, knotwork, and so many details. It actually is available online if you are interested in seeing it yourself.
After the calligraphy class I came home and wanted to do more. I went through my stash since I vaguely remembered getting some stencils from Jenny Perruzzi a while back. They were all influenced by knotwork. One of them was a stencil that was a spiral. I didn't think much of it when I first got it but now, WOW, it is the same shape as the spirals in the Book of Kells.
Below I used the spiral stencil and then added extra tangles. The colored picture above was done with colored pencils - and inspired by the colors I saw in the Book of Kells. Then I added the Latin words for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In a tiny space it was challenging to do proper Celtic letters.
Jenny doesn't have these stencils in her Etsy store right now, she's actually got her shop, Acadia Laser Creations on hiatus right now. But if you ask her .........
