Eye of Balor: Chasing and Repousse

Well for the chasing and repousse assignment, I've really been quite lost conceptually. So this morning I whipped out a bunch of my myth references and started reading. It worked out well because I found a story to use. Now, to some of you this idea may seem familiar. It's actually and idea I almost attempted a little over a year ago. It was right before Halloween last year, and I started to design a monocle. The monocole was going to be a monster's cycloptic eye. I actually got the idea from this myth, but totally forgot until I rediscovered it in one of my books.

The story is the Celtic myth of Balor. Balor is a god of death and king for the Fomorians, a race of monstorous giants that once controlled Ireland and were rooted to the sea. His father was Buarainech, a poison-maker. He kept Balor chained up at a young age, and the poisonous fumes made his one eye toxic. Everything he looked at died instantly. A prophecy came to him later that said his grandson would be destined to kill him, so he locked his only daughter up in a crystal tower on the island of Troy. With the help of the druid Birog, Cian (a God of the Tuatha de Danann who was trying to take over Ireland) inpregnated Balor's daughter. She had 3 sons, but Balor ordered that they all drown in the whirlpools near Troy. One son was dropped, and was saved by the druids. His name was Lugh. Lugh was raised as a proud warrior of the Tuatha de Danann, and was highly respected by his fellow gods. It's even said that the good god, Dagda, stepped down from his command of the De Danann military to allow Lugh to claim his destiny in the second battle at Mag Tuireadh. In this battle, Balor killed the De Danann leader but became tired. Since it took 7 servants to lift his eyelid, he closed his eye to rest. Right before the eye was completely closed, Lugh shot a rock from a magic slingshot at Balor's eye. His eye shot through the back of his head, and gazed upon his entire military behind him...Killing them all.

The Tuatha de Danann took over Ireland, allowing the Fomorians to live with them since their leader was killed. Eventually, the Milesians went to war with the Tuatha de Danann, and took over Ireland to become the ancestors of the modern inhabitants of Ireland. The Tuatha de Danann, along with the Fomorians, moved underground and became the fairy folk of Ireland.

So there we go. Really delved into the Cultural Anthropology on this one. So basically my plan is to do a monocle with 6 panels on it. I want the order and method of the display of the story to somewhat resemble that of Renaissance portals, with the large center one being similar to the tympanum. I made a digital sketch real quick of my idea, but I need to work out more details.

Stylistically, I'm going to take major influence from early (BCE) Celtic Metalsmithing styles. In other words, very round and somewhat idealistic. My primary reference for Celtic styling, especially in reference to chasing and repousse, is the Gundestrup cauldron. Here's a good picture of it.

Here's a close-up of the panel showing Cerennus, the god of the beasts.

So yeah, there we go. It's a decent start.

See you space cowboy....