Friday 29 January 2010

Towering Symbols





Does anyone know what three towers symbolise?

Thursday 28 January 2010

Designing the Highland capital's capitals.























I have been carrying out a lot of research into local architecture. The eagle motif is very common around the sneck and used to be on the coat of arms of the Highland Railways.

The creatures of foliage are wrapped (pardon the pun) in mystery. The name 'green man' is often attached to them, though this term is unknown before the 19th century.

It is a paradox of the 19th century that a time that was overtly puritanical also expressed an unprecedented interest in folk-customs and paganism.

Subsequently there were many intriguing, if poorly sourced, theories on the subject. Whatever the truth of these, few would probably deny that there is a certain power to these motifs.

Curiously, metaphors and symbols always depend on combinations. The eagle and lion would be regarded as Christian tetromorphs if they were accompanied by bulls (and human's that were less grotesque). As it is, I doubt if these are the real meanings.

The leaves of Cypress








These are taken on a graveyard on the top of an esker on the outskirts of the city. I'd say it's one of the most beautiful spots. The yew and cypress are two of my favourites and have a long European tradition of being associated with death. The name of the esker is Gaelic for 'hill of the yew trees'.

Scotland has very beautiful weather. That may seem like a joke, but in fact my favourite weather is days when the sky is bright and brooding at the same time.

Wednesday 27 January 2010