The Lion,

Here is my second project from the four evangelists in the Book of Kells. This is the Lion which is the symbol for Mark and his gospel. I used a lot more of the metallic gold foil in the body which sadly doesn’t show well on the photo. I also used more inspiration from Kells in the border with the eagles. All in all it looks great on my wall next to the Eagle of John I finished a few weeks back.

Kells Eagle final

So here is the finished project. As mentioned on my last post I took some liberty with the eagle by printing out a picture and then filling in the details. This went well except that finding a frame for an 8.5×11 was not as easy as getting one for an 8×10. Instead I picked up a cheap clip frame which is really just a piece go glass and backing that gets clipped together with your picture sandwiched in the middle. I then made my own border keeping with the color and style of the eagle and Kells art. Leaving some room around the center, where the picture would go, I brushed in some gold leaf paint to give the effect of illumination.

All in all, I am very happy with the results. I have been a fan of the Book of Kells for a long while, and especially the symbol for John the Evangelist which is the Eagle. Finding good prints of these can be difficult to impossible. Now I can finally place a little art from the “Early Middle Ages” on my wall.