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| Pictish Tattoo Art by Pat Fish | |||
The Picts are an enigma, almost lost in the far reaches of history, a mighty warrior race remembered for appearing in battle with tattoos and attitude. Throughout Scotland there still exist, in carved stones on the roadsides and collections in museums, the tangible evidence of the Pictish culture. | |||
 Photos of some roadside stones from the latest expedition to Scotland. | |||
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In my travels in Scotland I have been very impressed with the way the Picts
mastered the use of the spiral, in single, double and triple forms. The
animals carved in stone have spirals used for motive emphasis, and the sheer
joy expressed in line and fluid movement transcends the centuries.
Rather than paraphrase the scholarship of those who have made the Picts their life study, I will refer interested readers to this superb website: F. Leonard Campello's Pictish Nation where he provides many articles and much material for further study. You may also find it convenient to use my online bibliography , hosted by Amazon.com, as a guide to purchasing books for searching out patterns and historical material. I came to my personal connection to Pictish heritage late in life, having been raised in another culture without a connection to my genetic family. When I did meet my true relatives, and learn of my Scots heritage, I began making pilgrimages to Scotland to see if I would feel a kinship with the land. It did indeed feel like a homecoming. When I joined The Clan Campbell Society, one of the first things they said in their welcome literature was that the Campbells, strictly speaking, are NOT considered Celts. They are Picts. This came as a shock to me, since I had by this time begun establishing myself as a professional Celtic tattoo artist. Life has a funny way of throwing these things at us. In the years since I have gone to Scotland several times, and on the most recent trip I was privileged to spend a day at the Meigle Sculptured Stones Museum. It has the largest collection of Pictish stones in the country, with 26 very large sculpted stones filling a small tidy building. As an equestrienne, I was particularly delighted to see so many depictions of horses, and the romantic in me loved to see the mermaid, gryphons, manticore and numerous dragons. More than anything else, there is much evidence that they loved eels! I know, they may at first glance look like snakes, but I think the artists most loved the play of line and form that could be best accomplished with these slithering creatures. The same emphasis with spiral and line is seen in the boar, bull, and knotworks. Some even say one of the stones depicts the death of Guinevere, who legend says was buried by King Arthur in Meigle after he had her pulled apart by wild animals for her treachery. I have been extremely fortunate that members of my own clan, Clan Campbell have been my enthusiastic patrons, and so I have had the opportunity to do our clan badge, as shown in my page of Scottish Clan Tattoos I have also made it a personal goal during the last several years to focus more on Pictish symbols as tattoos. To see some of them, check out the PICTISH PORTFOLIO PAGE. Several of these Pictish images are for sale in my LuckyFish Art Yahoo store where I sell my designs. I am pleased share with other artists patterns for the Pictish carvings, thus enabling them to live again in the skins of modern people who feel a inship with this ancient culture and their art. I do all sorts of tattooing, but clearly what touches my heart most are the Celtic and Pictish designs. I am blessed that now, through the miracle of the internet, clients come to me from all over the world. I do my best to live up their expectations. Please be in touch if you wish to add something in either of these styles to your personal tattoo collection. And last, I also encourage you to check out my Cafe Press store where I sell my original Pictish designs printed on tshirts and mugs and other fun stuff. | |||
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