Ghost Owl

A varied edition collagraph print by Hester Cox. VE 2/15, paper size 13 ½” x 10 ¼”. Also available framed for £195 (pick up only).

This print was inspired by the tale of Blodeuwedd from the Welsh Mabinogion. A woman was created from flowers by two magicians to provide a beautiful wife for a chieftain who had been cursed to never marry a human woman. She was named Blodeuedd meaning flowers. She fell in love with another man and together they plotted her husband’s death (which he escaped by turning into an eagle). Blodeuedd was punished for her ‘treachery’ by being transformed into an owl condemned to only show her face at night and to frighten away all the other birds. Her name was changed to Blodeuwedd which sounds the same but roughly translates as ‘flower face’ and is an ancient name for owl. The story also inspired Alan Garner to write the Owl Service and his evocative book, and the tv series it inspired, have haunted me since my childhood. In Ghost Owl the pottery sherd shows a design from the plate that Garner referenced in his book and the meadowsweet is one of the nine flowers that was used to create Blodeuwedd.