'Selkie' A3 digital print reproduction of original screen print by illustrator and printmaker Abbie Lois.

Abbie Lois is an illustrator and printmaker based in Glasgow, whose work is inspired by storytelling and folklore. Her work usually has a specific lore behind the piece - themes surrounding landscapes, ancient creatures or interesting people. 

Each print measures 210mm x 420mm (A3), and is digitally printed on to high quality 250gsm perlino cotton paper. It is protected by a biodegradable cellophane sleeve.

The print comes with a card which explains the story behind the piece.

Selkies, or silkies, are creatures in Celtic and Norse lore which can take both seal and human form. They can be both men and women, but most common are the stories of beautiful selkie women who briefly shed their selkie skins to become human in the light of the moon.

The story usually goes that a human man happens upon a group of naked women dancing beside the sea in the depths of night. The man, seeing their seal-skins on the rocks nearby, guesses that they are selkies. He steals a skin, and the selkie whose skin he steals has no option but to return with him to become his wife. They have children, but one day the child finds a key for an always-locked kist in their home. The child unlocks the kist only to find their mother’s selkie skin - as soon as it is revealed, the woman takes the skin and flees to the sea, where she becomes a selkie once again, never to return.

There are some variations of the story where the selkie returns to her children once a year, or even takes the children with her to the depths of the sea, but these are usually adaptations for children’s stories.