Susan Cooper's Wales

After painting the Cornwall view a couple of months ago, I surfed around the Internet in search of other locales that figure in Susan Cooper's Dark Is Rising Sequence. I came across a lovely account of a visit made to Susan Cooper's Wales by David Given. As a real trip to Wales is unlikely (at least for now), I poked around Google Maps to see what I could find, based on the places he visited. Alas, many of the sites aren't accessible via Google Maps, but this one, of Craig yr Adeyrn, was; I also was able to see Tal y Llyn. Here are some painted versions. It's definitely not the same as actually visiting, but it did give me a dose of warm and fuzzy nostalgia.

14 November 2010

14" x 20", acrylic on paper

 

17 November 2010
7" x 10", acrylic on paper



15 November 2010
7" x 10", acrylic on paper

I guess it's not surprising, but it was nice to discover in my Internet search that the books are still being read and enjoyed by lots of people.  I'm not the only one who read them a bazillion times during my formative years, and memorized the poems associated with the series ("When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back..." and "On the day of the dead, when the year too dies...").  I even found a recent interview of Susan Cooper on Paul Magrs' blog.