16. The Downfall of Lleu & Blodeuwedd the Owl

Blodeuwedd was created from magic, to be a wife for Lleu as he leads a cursed life and is unable to find a wife naturally, but blodeuwedd falls in love with another local man, Goronwy. As new lovers, they plot to kill Lleu so they can be together, but as Lleu is cursed he can only be killed in a very specific way. Blodeuwedd tricks Lleu to show her what he would need to do, and then Goronwy throws the spear. But Lleu does not die, he transforms into an eagle. The concept of image was already complex to illustrate, so I research for reference images of old saw mills from the Welsh museum, St Fagan’s. I feel that it would be very difficult to understand the concept of the image without background knowledge, but hopefully the image leaves the viewer with questions.  

The last image is of Blodeuwedd being cursed into being an owl, as people have discovered her plot to kill Lleu. This image is much like the first image of the starlings and the letter, as it has its own small narrative, but it is also a closure to the sequence. To help communicate the end of the narrative and the sequence of images, I designed Blodeuwedd's flowers to start dropping and the plants to change colour as though they are dying. 

15 .Bendigeidfran's head & The Creation of Blodeuwedd.

With these compositions, the aim was to communicate narrative through the repetition of the same figures in the same scene. The objective is that by repeating the figure in the same space, that it gives a sense of time passing slowly. Bendigeidfran’s beheading was planned himself, and the scene needed to have a sombre feeling to show respect for the Welsh King. The scene only shows him in 3 points, stepping across London in the distance, laying in the Thames and placing his head to Face France. As location is a big factor, especially having his head facing towards France, I wanted to ensure to the best of my ability, that all elements were correct. These elements are; that he was walking from the west (Wales), that the blood flowed down the river in the right direction and that his head is actually facing France, and this was achieved by using satellite images. In order to show time, I wanted to depend on a natural element, such as the sun passing over. The Sun was an effective medium as it shows the events happened within the day.

In the creation of Blodeuwedd, it was a pretty simple narrative, but I wanted to capture the natural beauty and power of the woman, blooming from roots. There is no indication of how much time has passed, it could be minutes or days, but I wanted to depict her exploring, with the only indication that time has passed being her development. Each figure has more flowers and plants covering her body as she matures. I feel that this method of communicating narrative has been the most effective in this project, as the images are the strongest in my opinion.

14. Efnisien Hiding

Efnisien is the half-brother of Branwen and Bendigeidfran, and after discovering that he was not told about Branwen’s wedding, he mutilates the horses of the Irish king, causing a large fight between the two families. Bendigeidfran is able to settle the situation by replacing the horses, but Efnisien later causes an even bigger battle in Ireland, where he hides under a pile of dead bodies to escape being found.

I began planning the composition by researching artworks that depict scenes of mangled bodies such as The Raft of the Medusa. This image is highly realistic, which is very different from the illustrations that I’m making but was also inspiring to see how their limbs fell. In contrast with this, I also researched illustrations by Polly Nor, who has illustrations of limbs and snakes that intertwine in a contemporary fashion, which was more similar to the outcome I wanted to achieve.

For the image to depict narrative, I used symbolism among the limbs of the dead soldiers, such as 3 horses running around with mutilated lips and ears, a bonfire to communicate the stress of the battle, with spirits evaporating with the smoke, and also swords and daggers with blood. The only face that is shown in the image is the face of Efnisien, who’s hidden under the pile.