Saint Patrick is widely known for driving the "snakes" out of Ireland. Now there
weren't any reptiles without legs living in the Emerald Isle at the time of the
Roman empire. It might be too cold, it might be they didn't want to swim that
far, but they were snake free in his life time. He did bring Christianity to the
Isle, which drove down the belief in the Druidic ways of old. The wide use of
the knot-work as the symbols of life and the universe that the pagans used,
looking surely like snakes to the strange Roman Patrick was, is how his
conversion got the nickname of running the snakes out of Ireland. (Notably the
knot-work is still cherished today, so he didn't do so great a job there either
;) ) I'm not sure I like that, but oh well, it was a long time ago.
None the
less, I find myself longing for corned beef, wishing that I had the night off of
work for cheap booze and the excuse to babble in an Irish accent.
Happy St. Patrick's Day. May the wind be always at your back and
may you be in heaven a half-hour before the Devil knows your dead :)
This illustration of a tiger was taken from a photograph, broken into basic
shapes and three colors in Adobe Illustrator. This style of illustration is one
of my favorite hobbies, and a good way to practice my Illustrator skills. Its
also a good way to re-enforce the basics of shape, without getting caught up in
details like the edges of hairs or unnecessary things like whiskers.