#kelpies

[laurasimonsdaughter]

A flock of seagulls screeched overhead, providing very unwanted backing vocals to the screaming of the flailing young man that was currently being hauled towards the shore by a particularly ill-tempered selkie.

“Seabed below, could you please cooperate!” she snapped, beating her tail against the waves. “I am trying to help you!” It was hard enough to swim half transformed like this, let alone having to use both arms to keep hold of this panicking idiot.

At long last she reached shallower waters. Shallow enough at least, to safely let go of the human.

“There!” she cried, heaving him in the general direction of the beach. “Get yourself ashore!

He flailed some more for a few moments, screaming his head off and thrashing in the shallow water, until he realised he could stand and began wading frantically to the shore.

The selkie watched him go with exasperation. “You’re welcome,” she barked after him, and then pulled her pelt back up over her head and dove back into the waves.

She did not show her human face again until she had reached her favourite rock. A nice, big, flat one, that rose just above sea level. Arms were helpful in pulling yourself out of the water. The selkie flopped comfortably on her stomach, her lower half still in the foamy water, determined to still enjoy at least something of the early morning. It had been such a nice morning, before all the screaming, with the wisps of mist that drew from the sea towards the shore only barely dissolving.

It was not to be, however. She had barely folded her suntanned arms under her head, or an annoyingly familiar shape came through the faint haze of the last morning mist. A black mare, the gate of her hooves as smooth as poetry and her manes dark like the night. Kicking up and trampling pebbles under gleaming black hooves the horse charged across the beach and straight into the water. The selkie watched the proud head disappear beneath the waves with narrowed eyes. A moment later there was a splash of water beside her rock and two pale hands gripped its slick edge.

The selkie met the sea-green eyes of the transforming kelpie with a scowl. In the grey light of morning her skin seemed almost silvery, but she knew the lighting didn't matter, her frustrating kelpie companion always looked equally and annoyingly beautiful.

“I swear, if I have to rescue one more of your stupid victims—” she growled.

“Good morning to you too,” the kelpie tutted, arranging herself on the rock with an effortless grace the selkie felt she never possessed while she had human limbs.

“I mean it,” she snapped. “That was the third one this week!”

She was sick and tired of it. You’d think humans would eventually learn, but they never did. There was always someone stupid enough to mistake the kelpie for a normal horse and anyone foolish enough to climb onto her back got galloped straight into the sea. She didn’t actually hurt them, she just left them to splash around, but only very few of them managed to swim back to the shore on their own. Most of them needed help. Help that usually took the form of a very annoyed selkie.

The kelpie grinned, teeth gleaming in the pale light of morning. “You don’t have to rescue them.”

“I like my sea free of screaming humans, thanks,” the selkie grunted. “Seriously. Can’t you give it a rest for a while?”

“I would, but they make it so easy,” the kelpie grinned. “Besides, if I stop, who knows how long I’d have to wait for you to come and chat to me again…” She winked and slid off the rock back into the water. The silky ripple of the kelpie’s long, black hair fanned out wide and seemed to stain her skin until a moment later a beautiful black horse raised her head up above the water.

The selkie gave a furious scoff, jumping out of her pelt in order to stand up, tracking the dark shape in the water with her eyes. “You came to see me!” she yelled after the equine form galloping triumphantly into the sea foam. “You always do!”

There was no reply. Just a distinctive kelpie laugh, sounding loud and neighing across the waves.

[camelidae]

You are strongly advised not to feed the ducks in this pond.

[dharmaart]

Please don't feed the horses! II

Blue black calligraphy on paper. I posted this painting a while back, but not as a scanned image so hopefully the details are better in this version.

[ltwilliammowett]

The Kelpies, Baron & Duke, Falkirk in Scotland

[arianwen44]

Day 3 - Kelpie - I adore kelpies, I love the lore and stories about them. Never stop being creepy! 🐴 🌿

[scotianostra]

Happy tenth birthday to The Kelpies.

The Kelpies, located in Falkirk, tower a colossal 30 metres above the Forth and Clyde Canal and form a dramatic gateway to the canal entrance on the East Coast of Scotland. Created by Scotland's leading sculptor Andy Scott, The Kelpies are a monument to horse powered heritage across Central Scotland.

Some details of the Kelpies, each structure contains approximately 18,000 individual pieces. There is over 1.5 miles of steel in each structure. They each weigh over 300 tonnes and sit on 1,200 tonne foundations. Each structure has 464 steel plates In a monumental feat of engineering, The Kelpies rose from the ground in just 90 days, in late 2013.

Nearly one million people visited the Kelpies sculptures in Falkirk in the first year, since then the visitor numbers have declined, but still have numbers of over 500,000 a year

Some people criticise the cost of The Kelpies, said to be around £5 million, to me it is justified, it does bring a lot of people into the area of Falkirk in general, and are we to be the generation that forgets about public art just because of the costs? I love them and have visited them to many times to remember of the years, I may not be in Falkirk now, but I will take a trip to The Helix again and grab more pics, enjoy a coffee and take in the views over to The Ochils.

This saturday the Helix is hosting a tenth party to celebrate their birthday, the day event is free for all to attend and includes a producers market, face painters, Clydesdale Horse Demonstrations, Pipe Bands and much more. The evening event is ticked and you have performances by Rebecca Vasmant, Callum Beattie, the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, and much more., there are still some tickets available.

The last three pics were taken by myself on this day 2020.

[theunfairfolk]

youre one of my favorite blogs please infodump about fae/mythological creatures more. if u want a specific starting point. got anything fun abt kelpies/water demons? or one of my all time favorites, unicorns?

getting this ask made me feel like fire_elmo.gif

so kelpies are Not Horses, much like the Not Deer we are familiar with, yes? imagine wet horse. good you're halfway there. distinguishing traits are sometimes Weird Eyes, or traditionally, their hooves are on backwards. what the fuck you may say? yes.

dungeon meshi got it pretty close to home behaviorally. they stand in bodies if water. if you get on their back they dive under to drown you (and eat you). sometimes even touching them makes you stick to them, with stories of people cutting off their hands to avoid drowning. neat!

they're scottish in origin and some kelpie reports are even from loch ness. is nessie a kelpie? probably not. but maybe they hang out. oh and sometimes kelpies are reported as being able to turn into beautiful women. these reports are usually by lonely men.

i'll do unicorns in a part two!

send me your fav creatures and i'll infodump about em!

[tim-dennis]

Kelpies

[evermore-grimoire]

The Evermore Grimoire: Celtic Mythology

A kelpie is a water horse spirit that inhabits lochs in Celtic mythology. It is described to look like a horse, but can also take on a human form and is believed to take delight in drowning its victims. In certain stories, it loves the human liver. One of the water-kelpie's common identifying characteristics is that its hooves are reversed as compared to those of a normal horse, a trait also shared by the Nykur of Scandinavian and Icelandic mythology. The creature's nature is either useful, hurtful, or seeking human companionship; in some cases, kelpies take their victims into the water, devour them, and throw the entrails to the water's edge. In its equine form the kelpie is able to extend the length of its back to carry many riders together into the depths; a common theme in the tales is of several children clambering onto the creature's back while one remains on the shore.  Usually a little boy, he then pets the horse but his hand sticks to its neck. In some variations the boy cuts off his fingers or hand to free himself; he survives but the other children are carried off and drowned, with only some of their entrails being found later.

artwork by Helmiruusu

[privatedarius]

Weaner training photo credit: Bulldust and Mulga

[sybielart]

Drawtober Day 3: Witch (Monster Mash prompts by @drawtober )

I recently discovered Epic: The Musical (created by @jayherrans on Instagram and featuring other incredibly talented artists) after a lifelong fascination with Greek mythology. Scylla’s song is probably my favorite, but something about Circe and Scylla’s lore really struck a chord with me — I tried to match both interpretations. For this piece, I reimagined the Hydra’s heads as something similar to kelpies (this choice led to the fact I officially dislike to draw horse skulls now, huzzah!). It took me hours — days, really — to complete this illustration, so I hope it doesn’t go unnoticed on Tumblr ✨🌙

You can zoom in for better quality/details. ✨🪄

[cocoshomebrew]

Here's the link to my patreon if you want to see more of my content or want to support me in making it. Also consider joining my discord!

You can purchase the full PDF directly via DMsGuild

Original artwork by clownwizardart

[deepwaterwritingprompts]

Deep Water Prompt #3230

The Drowned Knight rides through the swamp on a kelpie. He was looking for something in there when he died, something so important he still hasn’t given up. 

[dharmaart]

I love your artwork, it has this sort of nostalgic feel to it that I fine so comforting and relaxing.

I was wondering, have you ever done art of supernatural horse creatures? I remember seeing art a while back of kelpies and it reminded me of your style, but I forgot to check who the artist was.

Thank you!

A lot of my inspiration comes from older art so it makes sense that my art has a nostalgic vibe.

I have done art of supernatural horse creatures, mostly bäckahästar/kelpies - which I have included bellow - but I have done other stuff too including illustrating a Norwegian folktale about an enormous magical horse called Dapplegrim. I have painted Sleipnir and an undead horse. I have also made a short comic that is bäckahäst inspired.

[intistone]

spookiest day of the spookiest month

beans are from my fic Scars and Scales hehe

[scotianostra]

Happy Paddy's Day☘️💚🤍🧡