Cathubodua

One last Celt. This is art of Cathubodua, a Gaulish Goddess known from a single inscription (and one that's missing the C, even). Her name has been surmised to mean 'Raven of Battle'; that makes it exactly parallel to the Irish Badb Catha, one of the aspects of the Morrigan, the Irish war Goddess.

This was definitely an experiment for me, artistically; it's done as a linoleum block print, a medium I haven't worked with since I think high school. (!) It's also done as a reduction print where a single block is carved away bit by bit for each layer of color. Usually each color is carved from a separate block. The advantages of a reduction print are that (in theory) all the layers will line up perfectly (as it's the same block); the disadvantage being that you can only print one set of prints, since the block is destroyed in the process and you can't go back (hence the alternate name 'suicide print').

I'm pretty happy with it; while I definitely need a lot more practice with the tools to get some finer (and smoother) lines, I like the darkness of the whole thing, and am itching to try some more linocuts.

This was another piece done as the monthly Goddess by Request over on my Patreon; for a pledge of $3 a month you get to weigh in on which Goddesses I paint.