In in Norse mythology there is a world tree,it is called Yggdrasil. In that tree there are nine worlds. In one of the worlds lives mankind and in another the gods. In the other worlds various other beings live, like Elves and Dwarfs. There are other creatures living in the tree, one is a squirrel that carries messages between a hawk sitting between the eyes of an unnamed eagle that is at the top of the world tree and a dragon, Níðhöggr that is lurking at the bottom of the tree. The squirrel is called Ratatoskr.
The squirrel is a bit of a trickster it would seem, although there is no mention in norse mythology exactly what these messages are,in the Prose Edda ( a set of 13th ceuntry poems that deal with Norse mythology) it states…”‘An eagle sits at the top of the ash, and it has knowledge of many things. Between its eyes sits the hawk called Vedrfolnir……The squirrel called Ratatosk…..runs up and down the ash. He tells slanderous gossip, provoking the eagle and Nidhogg.”
Early christian religion portrays the squirrel as stoical. An early manuscript features an image of a squirrel using its tail for shelter in a rainstorm. The inscription reads, “I shall endure and expect once again more favorable things however bad it is now, it won’t be bad forever”.
This painting of a Red Squirrel is autumnal colour-wise. I used a lot of Burnt Sienna, but was carefull it would not go to brown, so used rose madder genuine and prussian blue to balance the colour palette.
Below is the painting in progress.
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