God of Fire Hammering Out Thunderbolts

Illustrator, artist, printmaker and avid sketcher Sheena Mary Davies was commissioned to create an illustration of Vulcan. She also wrote a blog on her Substack profile, detailing some of the process, which we have reproduced here, along with the illustrations that she selected.

Work in progress, Vulcan linocut by Sheena Mary Davies for Cradle of Fire

Vulcan/ Hephaestus – Cradle of Fire: A commission to create an illustration of the god of fire.

My friend Diana Scarborough won an Arts Council grant to create an informative and artistic exploration of the story of Vulcan.

Using creatives in film, poetry, sound, music, art and science, Diana wanted to piece together our interpretations of this wonderful character and his story from Greek/Roman mythology.

Diana asked if I would like to illustrate an icon or image for the initial myth page as part of the multimedia artwork online exhibition. As for my illustration it could subsequently become an editioned print for the project.

Sketching out Ideas for Vulcan, Sheena Mary Davies for Cradle of Fire 2024

My first sketches were rough and ready, made with a scratchy dip pen and minimal planning! I just went headlong into depicting Vulcan as I had envisaged him, in his forge, hammering out another thunderbolt for the gods.

I decided to transfer a drawing to lino for an artisan feeling as a nod to the hand forged work of the blacksmith, manually crafted using a traditional method.

Progressing to the final image of Vulcan

Check back at a later date for news of Sheena’s signed Vulcan prints – we love their fiery evolution with our muse deep in concentration. Thunderbolts will never look the same now we know how they were created!

Final progression to Sheena Mary Davies’ finished Vulcan linocut print

Visit Sheena Mary Davies’ Substack pages.