Iseult the Fair

After [The Snow Queen], I decided to keep the theme going and do a little series. "Women of History, Legend & Myth". I'm hoping to make at least twelve of these by the end of the year and then I'll have myself a nice little calendar! :) Seems like fun, no?

Here's the second of some of the famous women to get featured: Iseult The Fair.

When I first saw the movie [Tristan + Isolde], I loved it. Then I decided to go and read the original story, and now the movie just seems unbearably boring and flattened out in comparison. The story is available to read online at several places (just do a quick Google search) and I really recommend it to anyone who has some extra time on his or her hands. You can't truly understand how tragic these two were untill you do.

I had fun putting some smaller references to the story in this one. There's the obvious golden hair and the cup of course, but you'll also find hazel leaves and honeysuckle flowers in there, two intertwining plants that some sources compare these lovers to. The two plants grow so entwined that both will die if they are separated. In a similar reference, the vines represent the plants growing out of their graves. Three times they were cut down, and each time, the branches grew back and intertwined, so therefore King Mark gave up and let them grow.


The celtic knot in the background was made using [these brushes].