A Representation of Speed – Swallows Repeating Pattern

by Daniel Mackie February 08, 2013

The Swallow has long been associated with Folklore. European folklore has a long list of good and bad luck stories, from bringing death if one were to land on your shoulder to bringing good fortune if they nest on your roof. One thing that is universal is that if you see a swallow then summer is on the way.

One of the most interesting aspects of the applied meaning of swallows is that of navy tattoos. I have talked about this before on this blog. Swallows, represented for sailors, land. Back in the olden days when sailing wasn’t a precise an art as it is today, the sight of a swallow sparked hope. If you’d been at sea for a long time probably relief as well. Swallows being land-based birds indicated your were near the shore. the birds have been used as tattoos to represent a specific amount of nautical miles sailed, for example, two swallows indicates a journey of 10,000 nautical miles.

swallows have long been used as a representation of speed. it has had influence in the world of aeronautical thought since antiquity.
The world’s first operational transonic jet fighter,The Me-262 Schwalbe, takes its name from the swallow.
The japanese named it’s fighter plane the Kawasaki Ki-61, the flying swallow,

Here you can see the painting on my desk, almost finished. This repeat is a square tile.

Here is the single tile.

and here it is in repeat.

This design is available as a card at The DM Collection

Daniel Mackie

Author

Comments will be approved before showing up.

Also in News / Work in progress / Mythology

Belling The Cat- Aesop's Fable

by Daniel Mackie December 30, 2020

Ideas are nothing, execution is everything.
Belling the Cat is a fable first recored in the 12th ceuntry. A group of mice debate plans to neutralise the threat of a marauding cat. One of them has an idea of placing a bell around its neck, so that they will be warned of its approach. The others applaud the plan, until one mouse asks who will volunteer to place the bell on the cat. All of them make excuses!

Tiger in Buckinghamsire!

by Daniel Mackie June 14, 2020

This is Mack's Tiger. It was part of a school project based on my work and a theme of animals in the natural habitat. Mack created this on Procreate on his mums iPad

Owls at Night

by Harry Miller April 30, 2020

Owl Greeting Card The DM Collection

With the exception of artists, inventors, and teenagers - we humans are diurnal daytime creatures on the whole, and although it’s one thing to be out and about during the night in a street lit urban environment, it’s a very different scenario if you find yourself in, say… oh, I don’t know, a forest per se. Where, if you’re lucky, you may hear the unmistakable cry or hoot of an Owl: natures very own nocturne, a stark reminder of the unknown peril of night, and a creature that has featured heavily in myth and folklore throughout the ages.