I THOUGHT it might be fun to show everyone how I create a painting- from concept to signing. It's really fun. I am very organized; I have binders and binders of ideas and starts of projects, and that is where I generally begin. But not always. Point in case – this week's painting. I wanted something different for my August recipe greeting card that I will have ready for my Nadi's Table event on August 1st, where I serve the recipe to anyone that wants to try it.
SO WHAT is celebrated in August? Nothing makes me happier than to search for info on the internet! I learned that August is National Golf Month, National Picnic Month, and Romance Awareness Month. We celebrate the birth of the internet on August 1: Vertumnalia, the festival of Vertumnus, the Roman god of seasons, gardens and orchards, is celebrated on August 13th (which is also Blame Someone Else Day). We have Ice Cream Sandwich Day, Toasted Marshmallow Day, Pony Express Day and, my favorite, Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night (August 8).
BUT WHEN I read about Lughnasadh (pronounced
LOO-na-sa), the Celtic festival of the first harvest, I knew I had my painting – and my recipe.
LUGHNASADH is the gaelic word for August and is named for Lugh, the Irish sun god, who is associated with the raven, light, and agricultural fertility. On August 1st, Lugh celebrated the death of his foster-mother Tailtiu, the last queen of the Fir Bolg. Tailtiu died from exhaustion after being forced, by her enemy, to clear a forest for planting. Festivities centered around the grain harvest, which was needed to get the tribe through the winter months.
FARM FOLK picked the first wild blueberries, and sang when the crop was abundant, for a good berry crop meant a good wheat crop. There was dancing in the field, and sometimes a wagonwheel was set on fire and rolled down a hill. It was the day for handfasted marriages, where a couple could marry for a year and a day, until next Lughnasadh, when they would either commit or stand back to back and walk away to dissolve the marriage. People gathered to exchange news and settle disputes, to sell wares, to tell stories, and to compete in games and horse races. There was great feasting, with the baking of bread an important ritual.
TODAY, Lughnasadh reminds us of the importance of belonging to a community, of working and playing together, of achieving success through group effort. It is a time to share your bounty with those less fortunate and to help friends and neighbors. It is a time to let go of things no longer fruitful in your life and open up to the bounty of things to come.
TOMORROW I will show you how I get started.
'Til then – Nadi
I FOUND this photo of a celtic knot. I took it into Photoshop and distorted it to fit the belt. I flopped the image for other side of belt. This saves me lots of time redrawing it to fit the shape.
NOW I just have to trace it onto canvas.
I FILLED in wheat next.
NINE PM, and I'm going home!
I WANT a woman picking the berries, not sure where she is looking yet. Maybe at the raven. 
A WHEAT field can go in the back. I like this one with the sea behind.
THE RAVEN is too small. Since he represents Lugh, the sun god, and has made all this possible, I am going to have him interact with the woman, who is happy for his generosity. I find a face (my daughter Renny) that has the look I want. The raven now continues the circle of the blueberries and I like this.
A CELEBRATION needs to be happening – the harvest is almost finished. 
RENNY needs some Irish clothes and maybe a headdress. It would be hot in the sun in August, picking berries.
MANY, MANY changes took place as I went along. I just gave you the basic process. I'm pretty happy with this design. The beauty of Photoshop, which is the program I use, is that I can enlarge or reduce, flop, and change position of each item at will. I tried the woman facing the other direction, I tried the dancers bigger and in other areas. I kept coming back to this. I will make a black and white copy of this now and transfer it to my 36"x48" canvas that has been painted bright orange.
"I WISH I could paint. It must be so exciting being an artist!" If you are an artist I'll bet you've heard those words many times, and, if you're like me, you agree- most of the time. But what about those days when nothing inspires you- when you wake up and find that you don't have a challenge to jump into? You know what I'm talking about. And now you're scared. Did I choose the right career? Am I tapped out? What if the passion is gone? We've all been there.
DO THIS activity just for yourself. You can't make a mistake and no one will ever see it unless you wish to share it.
BE CREATIVE. I like to do color schemes. I file by color (which satisfies my inner organizer), and when I have plenty of clipped pictures, I spend a lazy morning in bed with scissors and a glue stick. Ahh, so rejuvenating.
The BEST PART is yet to come.. The next time you need inspiration, take a ten-minute break and browse through your new plethora of pretty pages. The colors and images will instantly raise your spirits and give your creative mind a jump start.
BEWARE! Your scrapbook is extremely revealing. You might not want to show it to just anyone. One Christmas, after graduating from starving to struggling artist, I gave each of my four daughters a sketchbook, a pair of scissors and a glue stick, with a plan to meet one year later to share our masterpieces. I can only say that when we did , I declared that Christmas the best ever. Each book was so delightfully original and personal and we learned so much about each other.
SHARE your book with family and friends. They'll love it. The year my mother died, I gave her my latest creation and suggested she look at it over a cup of coffee some morning. She called me a day later and said, "Oh, Nadi. I never knew you."
OVER TIME, you will start to see another benefit. Small and large items pictured in the book will start to appear in your everyday life. You'll notice that your bedroom is now red and that there is a Great Dane sleeping in your living room.
I will have these and other new calendars available before the end of the year in my studio and on Cafepress. I am very excited and hope you enjoy them. Nadi
