Aidan Meehan

Beginners to Celtic knotwork should turn first to Iain Bain, whose method is superior for its simplicity and ability to effortlessly produce knots with uniform cord thickness.

The method Meehan presents here is unintuitive and needlessly complex, particularly when drawing simple border patterns or knots in irregular or triangular shapes. That said, his breakline method is useful for reproducing certain irregular or double-laced patterns; an artist with a thorough grounding in Bain's method show more should be able to put it to good use. show less

So, it's not a big surprise that I fell in love with this book but spiral lover or not I think you'll be amazed when you flip through these pages. Aidan Meehan is not only the author but also the calligrapher who's hand created the artwork and lettering that grace all 160 pages. I included a sample below for you to get an idea of the detail that is included though out the book. A balance of history, art and instruction Meehan's Spiral Patterns is a delightful read and a wonderful resources. show more I highly recommend this book not only to those interested in calligraphy but to anyone interested in design and the use of lines to form intricate patterns. Reading the book was pure pleasure for my eyes who enjoyed the change form print medias typical small type to the fluid and natural hand that graces the pages of this book. I'll be keeping this book close at hand and searching for other fascinating reads by Meehan.

http://nicolevlozano.blogspot.com/2009/01/its-all-about-spirals.html show less

Another Meehan book about Celtic design, this time discussing the influence of the vikings. I'm not interested in art history as such, so I didn't find much to interest me here. The first Meehan book I had discussed how to use Celtic patterns yourself, but this simply shows some nice pictures and describes their features rather than providing any guidance. So I think it's a less useful book in general.

An artistic handbook on techniques for traditional Celtic design. As I don't really do much ornamentation, all I can say is it seemed decent. The illustrations were plentiful and good, but could have done with slightly clearer explanations - maybe a bit of numbering or some arrows to highlight what Meehan was talking about.