Pelican Love

Pelican Love

How many sales of this design – 1 sale so far :)

Pelican Love is from the ‘Beach Series’ and ‘Friends Series’ of original paintings by Karin Taylor.
It was created using ink and pastel on pastel paper. There is a beautiful story about the love that pelicans have for their babies, I thought I’d share it with you

Reference taken from the Wikepedia Encyclopedia (please forgive the length of this, but it is SO interesting, thought I may as well share the whole thing !)

In medieval Europe, the pelican was thought to be particularly attentive to her young, to the point of providing her own blood when no other food was available. As a result, the pelican became a symbol of the Passion of Jesus and of the Eucharist. It also became a symbol in bestiaries for self-sacrifice, and was used in heraldry (“a pelican in her piety” or “a pelican vulning (wounding) herself”). Another version of this is that the pelican used to kill its young and then resurrect them with its blood, this being analogous to the sacrifice of Jesus. Thus the symbol of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) is a pelican, and for most of its existence the headquarters of the service was located at Pelican House in Dublin, Ireland.

For example, the emblems of both Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and Corpus Christi College, Oxford are pelicans, showing its use as a medieval Christian symbol (‘Corpus Christi’ means ‘body of Christ’).

Likewise a folktale from India says that a pelican killed her young by rough treatment but was then so contrite that she resurrected them with her own blood.[1]

These legends may have arisen because the pelican used to suffer from a disease that left a red mark on its chest[citation needed]. Alternatively it may be that pelicans look as if they are stabbing themselves as they often press their bill into their chest to fully empty their pouch. Yet other possibilities are that they often rest their bills on their breasts, and that the Dalmatian Pelican has a blood-red pouch in the early breeding season.[1]

Pelican Love belongs to the following groups:

Beach Art, Clever Designs, Impressionism Café, Pelicans, Two Beings Group and Vibrant and Vivid Color Available for sale as

Greeting Cards