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Eicats β Yggdrasil and the Norse World
Published: 2009-06-14 02:49:00 +0000 UTC; Views: 7261; Favourites: 105; Downloads: 0
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**Update Aug. 2009: I uploaded a long and pretentious explanation of the painting to my scrapbook
You have to hit download to read it... [link]
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Finally! The painting I've been working on all year so far is finally done. That sounds ridiculous, so I should explain that a lot of time went into research--a LOT of time--and I mainly had weekends to devote to painting. Regardless, since this has been my constant companion for the past six months, it was a little hard to say goodbye.
What is it? Well...I'm going to withhold detailed explanations for the moment only because if the viewer is familiar with Norse Mythology, I would really LOVE hearing a cold reading of the piece.
Otherwise, a basic explanation is that old norse mythology considered that there were nine 'worlds' and that a huge tree of life, Yggrasil, connects them all. The information about this is somewhat scattered and is mainly gleaned from old prose. Because of the varying interpretations of the source information, there is not an accepted illustration of these worlds: some people think they are separate, some people consider the 'worlds' as different countries on one planet, and even the specific worlds can vary depending on interpretation.
After I get some initial views, I will give a detailed explanation of the elements. Also, I hope to then have an actual scan to upload--this photo is horrible, I know.
The original is mixed media: acrylic, water color, and ink (with some marker detailing); size is approx. 20 x 30 on fiber cardstock.
And I'm open to suggestions for a title!!
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Comments: 30
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Nice art! I would like to ask for permission if it's okay to have your art be part of my list on my site? I am looking forward to feature some great gods and goddesses on my site. You can check out my site here, at the bottom. Of course I'll put a credit that this is your own art.
Hope you'll agree! \(^_^)/
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Hi, I'm so sorry I didn't replyβ I've been busy with life and just allowed my account to sit inactive! Thank you for the nice comment. I checked out your site and it's really cool. I see you've already done your Yggdrasil post and you have some very amazing art posted, I just love them all. I usually say no, but I like what you've done with the collection and the credits; if you still want to include mine, you can
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A wonderful, fluid explanation of Yggdrasil. I love it! <33
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Thanks! I'm glad to hear it made sense
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I knew what this was right away!
Really beautiful painting
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That's awesome you recognized it- thanks for the comment! Sorry it took me so long to reply.
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this is the best interpretation I saw so far... I just miss the stag on the image ;_; but however, this is your work and I bet you did a lot of research (not many people know about RatatΓΆskr).
It inspires me a lot. Maybe I'm going to do a painting of Yggdrassil as well '_'
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Wow, thank you- that's an incredible compliment. My early work had a stag (harts) in the branches, but the scale of the entire image was too massive and they wouldn't work quite right. So I had to consider that they're still there, they're just hidden in the leaves.
Thanks again for the comment and sorry for my slow reply!
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you'Re welcome 
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Would you mind if I tried to paint this myself for my Hearth?
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Imitation is the highest compliment: I would be honored. Just make sure to tell people where you got the idea.
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Thank you very much, I have used this as an idea for a tapestry I worked on, with a tree as a back ground, it looks nothing like yours, but yours still gave me the idea of putting the Yggdrasil as the background for it, I love your work and hope to see more, I'll upload a pic of mine when it's done.
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Wow, thank you! I really appreciate it.
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This is what makes going to school worth it here in Iceland
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Thank you! I hope your schooling is worth it: I have no doubt it's a beautiful location and is very interesting.
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You must have done a lot of research if you got VeΓ°rfΓΆlnir in there... that may be the second depiction of him in the history of the world!
What is the dark triangle-ish shape under the rightmost root? And did you consciously decide not to put in the Norns?
As for the story it tells, I *very* much like the clarity of the colours and the forms. A lot of the depictions of it I've seen came from the late 1800s, and they're very ornate, twisty, knotted messes. This is very clear and clean. It is interesting to consider the attached worlds as actual planets, with Midgard looking so earth-like.
Artistry: I really like the cool colour scheme, and the background is gorgeous on its own. The colours give the animals some life of their own, as well as showing off the worlds. And the tree itself is very well done, with the twisty roots and bark swirling upward into the leaves.
Ermm, I haven't scrolled up and looked at how much I've written but I'm getting worried! Excellent work, this is a pleasure to look at, and excellent at communicating what is often a very complicated piece of mythology.
*clap clap!*
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But to answer your specific questions:
Underneath the rightmost root (assuming you mean the viewers' right side), is my very abbreviated depiction of the "Void of Chaos". The best explanation that I found of this area that separates the frozen Hel from the rest of the worlds was that it is a massive void that contains giant mountains, deep forests, and a span of total black nothingness. Although it does say that there is at least one bridge that spans the Void of Chaos- I wanted to much to add that, but in the end, I couldn't decide on a way to do that at the scale that I had everything. So yes, it is a very simplistic Void of Chaos.
As you noticed, there were other things that were (yes, deliberately) left out. The Norns being one of them. In one of my early concepts, I sketched in the harts (deer or goats, depending on reference) in the branches of the tree and I toyed with the idea of adding the Norns by the little river area by the left root. In the end, I decided the harts were hidden by the foilage, and in the interest of simplicity, I had to sacrifice the Norns. The other main thing I had considered but left out in the end were either adding labels or characters kind of protruding from each world. Ultimately, I took my son's advice, which is that it would look too cartoon-y if I did either of those alternatives. I still kind of wonder if it isn't too undefined without, though...but if you got the gist of it, that does reassure me!
Speaking of length- I'll quick blabbering here and add other comments to the top later. Thanks so, so very much for the review. I appreciate it immensely!
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No, as I noted, the uncluttered-ness of it is very appealing. It almost does need annotation of some sort, but that's just the nature of mythology -- there's very that's simple about it. I think figuring things out is more the job of the viewer rather than your worry.
I can't get my mind quite around how one could put in Ginnungagap, so cheers to you for adding it!
Thanks for sharing it, and for putting so much effort into it. It's great fun to see what you've been up to.
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Thanks again- I would love to have this shown as an text illustration somewhere. If I knew of a way, I would definitely submit it. Maybe Wikipedia would allow it...
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Very impressive! I love all the little touches, like the planets in the roots, and the snake coiled around the Earth. An excellent depiction of the mythology (from what I can remember) in my opinion.
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Thanks very much! I was hoping I got the main point across anyway.
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