#undyingtalesproject

[heatherfranzen]

Red Panda for Undying Tales this year!

Holbein acryla gouache on mystery paper (either Legion Paper Stonehenge or Strathmore Art Journal) cut to ACEO / ATC size.

[vyskala]

Inktober Undying Tales: Northeast African Cheetah

In ancient Egypt, Mafdet was revered as a cheetah goddess. She was the protector of Ra (the Sun God) sprinting alongside his chariot. She helped fend off the attacks of Apophis, who attacked every night. Because Ra was seen as patron of pharaohs, Mafdet was protector of pharaohs as well. She defended against evildoers by tearing out their hearts, and particularly against snakes and venomous creatures in the sacred chambers. She was a patroness of the dead, and protected against snakebites.

Ink drawing.

[pixilation]

Undying Tales day 2 - Hillstar Hummingbird posted on Instagram - https://instagr.am/p/CUizzowL-4K/

[heatherfranzen]

Undying Tales 2 / 15: Mexican Wolf

Holbein acryla gouache on mystery paper (either Legion Paper Stonehenge or Strathmore Art Journal) cut to ACEO / ATC size.

[vyskala]

Inktober Owlstens palm civet

The Feng li as described in the Ben Cao Gang Mu by Li Shizen as having the aspect of a small, green, and black monkey patterned with leopard spots. They feed on spiders and mastic (resin). They are dormant in the daylight hours, but at night, they come to life, jumping high through the treetops and sailing upon the wind like night birds. They hold a stick or a stiff stalk of grass and can point this wand at other animals to paralyze them to stillness. If a human were to snatch this wand and point at another human, the latter would be compelled to the bidding of the former.

These bestiary descriptions of old natch fairly well with the civet. Although descriptions of the feng li vary as well.

Ink brush on paper.

[vyskala]

Inktober Asian Tapir

Undying Tales

A japanese 17th century text described the baku as a creature from China. It was a chimera that had elephant tusks, rhinoceros ears, cow's tail, body of bear, and paws of a tiger. This in turn came from a description of a 9th century Chinese poet Bai Juyi, who wrote of "mo" (giant panda) as a fantastical chimera creature consisting of various traits drawn from other animals, and it had the ability to ward against pestilence and evil. With the similarities of both colouration and markings of the panda and tapir, wuth chimera tendacues of the baku, the creatures became conflated.

In later times the baku became further imbued with magical nightmare-devouring abilities. It was often depicted in Japanese woodblocks, temple carvings, and netsuke sculptures destroying evil dreams. One cannot be careless about summoning the baku, however, for if the dream is not enough to sate its appetite, it might turn on the summoner and also devour hopes and dreams. But for the most part the baku is a benevolent creature.

Black marker brush pen.

[vyskala]

Inktober olive tree and caiman

I missed a day, so two in one.

Olive tree tale: Posiedon, god of the Sea, and Athena, goddess of Wisdom and War, were at odds. Both wished to lay claim to the earthly land of the Attic Peninsula. To stake his claim, Posiedon rose up and plunged his trident deep into the Acropolis. His strike pierced through the dirt to became a deep well of salt water. This became the Sea of Erechtheis, a salt spring on the Acropolis. Athena made an olive tree spring forth beside the well. When the other gods of Olympus were called upon to judge which god would be the city's patron, it was decided that Athena's gift was the more worthy and precious one. Henceforth, the city became known as Athens, and olive trees revered as symbols of peace and prosperity throughout the Empire.

Colombian caiman tale: El Hombre Caimán ("The Alligator Man") who lives on the banks of the Magdelena River. He was once a human fisherman by the name of Montenegro. The fisherman enjoyed spying upon women bathing in the streams, and so he engaged the help of a shaman, who gave him two potions: one that shifted him into an alligator, and a second that returned him to human shape. The second potion required the assistance of a friend to apply it. After enjoying this for some time, there came a time when he returned from a jaunt to his friend, who clumsily opened the bottle. The liquid splashed across Montenegro's head and torso, which resumed man-form, but this left his lower half trapped as an alligator. Horrified at what he had become, shunned and hunted by his neighbours, he fled into the river and eventually out to the sea.

 

[vyskala]

Undying Tales Takahe

Moa were species of flightless birds that were once endemic to New Zealand in the Late Pleistocene era, but within 100 years of human settlement in New Zealand, were hunted to extinction.

Flightless takahe were thought to be included in this group of extinct birds, hunted by European settlers to what was thought to be extinction, until they were rediscovered in 1948 in remote Murchison Mountains. Eventually through conservation efforts, larger populations were reintroduced into the wild.

Because of their long history of being thought extinct, their narrative has taken on a spiritual role of redemption, but also of human inconsequence: that despite mankind's self-importance, nature still keeps its own secrets and wonders. Ghostly, known only from their fossils prior to rediscovery, the invisible presence of takahe has shaped the plant life and diversity of their environment.

Little white ink drawing on brown paper.