Knotted

This is a little knotwork bird inspired by an illustration in the Book of Kells, done in my watercolor sketchbook.  As usual for knotwork, I created the design on graph paper and transferred via graphite paper to the sketchbook.  This only fills about a quarter of the sketchbook page so I will probably give it some accompanying calligraphy when I decide what I want it to say.

I had a few issues with it.  First, I got so engrossed in making it look like a bird that I forgot how the knotwork should go, and so the neck part is a little more tangled than it should be.  Also, my graphite paper seems to have wax or something in it that resists watercolor, so my lines show a little white here and there where they shouldn't.  But, overall, I'm pretty happy with it.  I want to do a knotwork animal of my own design, eventually, and maybe incorporate it into a watercolor painting somehow.  Baby steps :)