Size = 16” x 12” (14 ct.)

I was in the Picture This store one day when Marilyn said, “Hey, you should design a carousel.” I replied, “What for? Everyone does carousels.” But, I kept thinking about it and tried a variety of versions. The animals were pretty easy. I’ve always been fascinated by mythology and these were inspired by Celtic legends of the Wild Hunt, when a mad Sidhe lord would roam the countryside with his hounds killing anyone unlucky enough to be out. I’ve never found a good description of Fae horses, but these seem rather in character, especially as I was feeling rather grumpy when I created them. The hounds are my version of Welsh spirit hounds called Cwn Annwn. Once I had the animals, I was still never satisfied with the frame, until I was thinking about incorporating the Celtic Tree of Life one day and then decided that a tree would make a good frame by itself. That worked fairly well, but a pretty green tree with mossy ground didn’t seem right for so grim a subject, so, again, I took the advice of Marilyn, Shari, and my creative consultant, Beth, and used these more autumny colors. And, so we have the first tree-o-sel.