Noted artist and best-selling author Courtney Davis celebrates the intricate artistry of the great Celtic Christian scribes. Early Celtic artists drew upon ancient traditions to design exquisitely patterned jewelry, metalwork, and carvings. With the arrival of Celtic Christianity, their focus turned to the glorification of God, seen in magnificently illustrated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells. Drawing upon these two historical traditions, Davis offers a fresh look at Celtic ornamentation, using examples from famous manuscripts, gospels, and other works. "A very useful source for artists."--Library Journal.
Even the most elaborate Celtic pattern boils down to a few basic motifs (including spirals, swastikas, circles, "s" curves, knots, tau crosses, sun signs, etc.). This lavishly illustrated handbook of over 600 designs offers a key to the intricacies of Celtic decoration, showing how the judicious use of these simple symbols, motifs, or ideographs can be used to develop newer and more ambitious patterns to meet the requirements of modern decorative art. Over 600 black-and-white illus.
Gathered from the rarest of resources, 227 black-and-white Celtic motifs and Kellstype initials comprise this unsurpassed treasury of design. Glowing with extravagant beauty, masterfully ornate letters of the alphabet are displayed amid the interlaced beasts, intricate knots, and visual punning of an art form admired for centuries.
An important anthology of Irish and Celtic solos for the 5-string banjo featuring a comprehensive, scholarly treatise on the history, techniques, and etiquette of playing the banjo in the Celtic tradition. Includes segments on tuning, pick preferences, and tablature reading followed by 101 jigs, slides, polkas, slip jigs, reels, hornpipes, strathspeys, O'Carolan tunes, plus a special section of North American Celtic tunes. A generous collection of photos of Irish folk musicians, street scenes, and archaeological sites further enhances this fabulous book. All of the solos included here are written in 5-string banjo tablature only with a few tunes set in unusual banjo tunings. the appendices provide a sizable glossary and a wealth of information regarding soloists and groups playing Celtic music, Irish festivals, music publications, on-line computer resources, cultural organizations, and more. If you are serious about playing Celtic music on the 5-string banjo, or if you don't play the banjo but simply want to expand your knowledge of the Celtic music tradition-you owe yourself this book. the first-ever CD collection of Irish and Celtic music for 5-string banjo provides 68 lovely melodies and demonstrates revolutionary techniques for playing highly ornamented tunes and rolling back-up. Recorded in stereo with virtuosos Gabriel Donohue (steel- and nylon-string guitar and piano) and Robbie Walsh (bodhran- frame drum played with a stick), the five-string banjo is out front and plays through each melody in real-life tempo with authentic Celtic chordal and rhythmic backing. the recording features the music of all Six Celtic Nations and includes jigs, reels, hornpipes, slides, polkas, marches, country dances, larides, andros, slipjigs, strathspeys, airs and O'Carolan tunes. 35 songs in the book are not on the CD.
Literary Nonfiction. Reporter Eric Poor found himself flying in an antique WWII bomber one day and serving on a panel with a MAD magazine editor the next. He might be climbing a mountain in the snow to interview a man celebrating his 80th birthday and the next day be hitching a flight to Belize. His job as a journalist and photographer brought him countless adventures. Curiosity may have killed a cat but it makes a journalist's motor purr. If you are considering a life in journalism, or are just curious about what a journalist's life is like, this book is for you. The author lays out both the challenges and the rewards, and leaves behind a number of valuable tips—for living and for writing—along the way.
A book of traditional Celtic tunes arranged for cellos with rockin' groove and chop-based accompaniments. Includes forty-seven tunes from Ireland, Scotland, the Shetland Isles, and Canada in duet arrangements, all chosen with cellists in mind and in a variety of styles including jigs, slip jigs, reels, strathspeys, planxtys and airs in traditional keys. Performing in the groove is so important for string players that the American String Teachers Association recognizes this skill as a separate category in their Alternative String Style Awards. Playing these idiomatic and often syncopated accompanimental patterns is a great way to learn these styles. Companion CD includes all arrangements performed by the author.
Compiled from brilliant illuminated manuscripts such as The Book of Kells, this collection spotlights the Christian iconography of ancient Britain. These colorful ornaments date from the Roman occupation through the Norman conquest. Abounding in intertwined lacings, abstract animal figures, meticulously drawn letters, winding scrolls of foliate designs, and uniquely solemn religious imagery, they offer a wondrous variety of ancient ornamental artwork.
