What the Midwife Saw

Illustration of a scene from a Welsh story, sometimes known as 'Fairy ointment' or 'Eilian of Garth Dorwen'

In the story of Eilian of Garth Dorwen a midwife attends a birth in a luxurious palace. She is told to anoint the baby’s eyes with a special ointment, but accidentally rubs some into one of her own eyes. The midwife finds that her magnificent surroundings become a poor cave when viewed through her anointed eye – the palace is just a fairy glamour. I’ve called this piece ‘What the Midwife Saw’. Watercolour paints, pigment markers, coloured pencils and ink.