Myrddin’s Quoits

I’m continuing to work on a series of drawings done in the field, quite literally, of ancient stone monuments in West Wales, linked with the legends of the Mabinogion.

This is Myrddin’s Quoits. Myrddin is the Welsh version of Merlin, who is a major figure in Welsh / ancient British mythology. I visited these stones, possibly part of a Neolithic cromlech and estimated around 5,000 years old, when I was out and about drawing in Carmarthenshire last week with archaeologist Dewi Bowen and film maker Melvyn Williams. They are on the edge of the village of Llangain, one is a few feet into a very muddy field and the other is in the hedge. It was really wet, after months of torrential rain, the ground was completely waterlogged but I gamely pulled out a piece of carbon and a sheet of vintage British paper and scribbled away on top of my portable drawing board. I took this photo in my garden, the hellebores are in full bloom.

Here are Myrddin’s Quoits in a muddy field. We’re planning another drawing trip this week. I’m hoping the few days of sunshine we’ve had recently will dry the fields out a bit.