(one of) my entry(ies) for =windfalcon's really cool 'Names of Galway' contest Have to get a photograph of my painted canvas tomorrow and try and upload it lol cutting it fine as tomorrow's the deadline and I have a 3rd picture (woo!) but it's shrinking on me

mystical watching the effect of my scanner on my watercolour paintings Colours bare no relevence to original lol oh well its kinda funky
Oh - and the blue and pink dots are sparkly metalic paint lol scanner didn't agree with them I suppose
Sketch reference from [link]

The reason why this has anything to do with the place bearing the name of Salmon Weir?
Well, the 'salmon' reminded me of a story from The Kalevala (wiki: [link])

Here are some (out of context) extracts:

When I sink beneath the sea-foam
Make my home in salmon-grottoes
Make my bed in crystal waters

------

I am not a scaly sea-fish,
Not a trout of Northland rivers,
Not a whiting from the waters,
Not a salmon of the North-seas

------

"Why this weeping, fairest daughter,
Darling daughter, why this grieving?
Thus the tearful maiden answered:
Therefore do I weep and sorrow,
Wretched maiden all my life long,
Since poor Aino, thou hast given,
Since thy daughter thou hast promised
To the aged Wainamoinen,
...
Better far if thou hadst sent me
Far below the salt-sea surges,
To become the whiting's sister,
And the friend of perch and salmon;
Better far to ride the billows,
Swim the sea-foam as a mermaid

------

Basically the story follows somewhat like this (feel free to correct me! It's kind of roundabout and I haven't read it in a while):

Aino, the beautiful young maiden, is promised in marriage to Väinämöinen, who is the first created man (Kalevala is partly the Finnish creation story) and by now is very old. He defeated Aino's brother, Joukahainen, and to spare his life he promised his sister in marriage. Aino is desparately upset by the arrangements and cries a lot. (this takes up quite a lot of verses!) She decides to drown herself in the lake but when she arrives on the shore and strips off her clothes and jewelery, she sees mermaids sitting upon a rainbow rock far out in the Lake. She starts to swim towards it, but when she reaches it the mermaids are gone and the rock sinks, dragging her down with it. She drowns and transforms into a salmon and lives in the murky depths ever after. Her family find her clothes by the lakeside and lament her and never come to the lake again.


So my picture isn't an illustration, but just an impression.



::: Prints available - note me! :::