"Imbolc / Oimelg / Brigid's Day / Mid Winter Festival" – Postcard

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This week’s Sunday Postcard Art challenge was "Imbolc."

I used several symbols of Imbolc in my piece. I show Brigid driving out Winter/Darkness (snow/moon) and ushering in Spring/Light (flowers/sun). The snake that emerges from the hole is in front of her. The fertile ewe is behind her.

This is my second attempt at a piece for this theme. My first piece wasn't coming together. After a good night's sleep, the idea for this piece came to me when I awoke. I don't know if I've made a similar piece before, or if I started this idea once before but was unable to bring all of the elements together to create it and gave up, but I am very happy with how this came out. I started with the woman, and the rest of the elements followed.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.14.

The vintage images are by the artist Walter Crane and are from the Internet Archive. (See the side of my blog for links.)


Imbolc Hymn:

Thig an nathair as an toll
   La donn Bride,
Ged robh tri traighean dh' an t-sneachd
   Air leachd an lair.


The serpent will come from the hole
   On the brown Day of Bride,
Though there should be three feet of snow
   On the flat surface of the ground.

Carmichael, Alexander (1900)
Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations, Ortha Nan Gaidheal, Volume I, p. 169