Early Medieval Book of Kells

During class the slide show had pictures of the gospels from the book of Kells. I thought they looked very detailed and ornate. The drawings of the people concerning the illustration were stylized, which matched the stylized loopy, interclocking, and overlaping lines. The lines filled the space and created an atmosphere, possibly pertaining to each stroy/gospel.
The book of Kells could have been created on the coast of Scotland and then in Meath, which is in Ireland, but it was said that it was finished at Kells. The book of Kells was a gospel book with illustrations. The pages are filled with many twisting patterns and colors. The images were to illustrate from the gospels. Most of the gospels start with an ornate letter and sometimes drawings are swirling around the letter. In the book of Kells they had pages that were completly covered with the twising lines. It almost seems like the artist had to put them in the pages for obsessive reasons.
I really wanted to just look at the drawings so I did:
   There seems to be patterns withing the shapes that form the creatures head. The blue from the angels eyes help compromise with the creatures blue head. So many repeated lines. Lines within lines.
 This one really appealed to me. The bright yellow and rustic colors give off a nice warm theme, though the hidden blue helps balance the warm colors. The square shapes and ornate design remind me of Persian carpets.
Sources:

Fritz, Donald W. "Origin And Meaning Of Pattern In The Book Of Kells." Journal Of Analytical Psychology 22.4 (1977): 343-353. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.

http://www.medievalscript.com/images/may07/kells.jpg

http://www.fontcraft.com/artype/kells/page1.gif