Description

Birth of Blodeuwedd II
Rebecca Stockburn
Waterbased Mediums, Custom Framed
Framed to 24 inch square
Ornate Gilt Framed with Art in a Circular Cut Mount/ Glazed

Blodeuwedd was created from flowers, and was the wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes, son of Arianrhod. She is a central figure in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi. Blodeuwedd was created by the great druid magicians Math and Gwydion to be Lleu’s wife, in response to a curse pronounced by his mother that he would never have a mortal wife. They fashioned Blodeuwedd from three blossoms: oak, meadowsweet, and broom. However, she proved treacherous to Lleu, and she and her lover Gronw Pebyr plotted against him, killing the invulnerable Lleu by tricking him into the only pose in which he could be harmed (a classic Celtic motif). Lleu turned into an eagle and then was turned back into human form by his uncles. In retaliation Gronw was killed, and Blodeuwedd was ‘punished’ for this by being transformed into an owl.
Generally, there have been two types of representations of Blodeuwedd, as the beautiful femme fatale stepping out of the cauldron under the male gazes of Math, Gwydion, and Lleu, but she is also often painted with a half flower and half owl face, shown shapeshifting from flower maiden to owl crone. However, when the archaeologist Caroline Malim first mentioned researching Blodeuwedd in relation to possible Iron Age initiation ceremonies in the archaeological and historical records, we conceptualised Blodeuwedd ‘being born’ amongst the oak, broom, and meadowsweet, seen from above within the ‘womb’ cauldron. A nascent dreamer.