Spring has sprung, or at least it has in our neck of the woods — although it was cold enough to make the rooftops white with frost last night, today was sunny and pleasantly temperate, making me chafe to be out in the garden instead of inside, drawing.

But today was class day in the mentorship program I’m taking, and a very busy one — critiques of my ongoing graphic novel project (like having the best editors ever!), fun with inking techniques, some Photoshop lessons, and lots of interesting talk about comics. A wonderful time, but I’m a wee bit tired! So…

Yesterday was the Vernal Equinox, and in celebration of that I’m going to feature an image from a previous post about Celtic art that is relevant to this time of year.

Eostre (pen & ink, watercolour, coloured pencil)

Eostre was the personification of dawn and the spring. She had many names all over Europe, such as Astara and Astarte, but the Saxon version of her name is where we get the word “Easter”. Her feast day was the Vernal Equinox. She was shown as carrying the golden egg of the sun in her hand, with wings on her shoulders and feet, and the moon hare (for the Saxons and Celts, like the Japanese, saw a hare in the moon, not a man) chased her eternally across the sky. And that is where we get the Easter bunny and Easter eggs! Don’t ask me where the chocolate came from, though.