The Chicken Legged Workshop - Art by Justine G. Cappelli

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If you have any questions, feel free to reach out, I’m always happy to help 🌞 Cappelli.

The Chicken-Legged Workshop
Art by Justine G. Cappelli
Independent visual artist based in Monaghan, Ireland. Contact: https://www.thechickenleggedworkshop.com/connect-with-me
Website: https://www.thechickenleggedworkshop.com/
All artworks, texts and images © Justine G. All rights reserved.

Hello everyone ❀I've just finished Ogma.He's one of those figures I've been trying to paint for nearly two years!! Most...
18/06/2026

Hello everyone ❀

I've just finished Ogma.

He's one of those figures I've been trying to paint for nearly two years!! Most people know him through his connection with ogham and writing, but the stories are much more layered than that. In the medieval texts, he's also a warrior and a champion of the Tuatha DĂ© Danann. Strength and eloquence seem to go together with him.

While I was painting this piece, I ended up reading about Uaimh na Gréine, the Cave of the Sun near Loughcrew. Folklore connected it with Oghma, and people once told stories about treasures hidden under the hill. I love those little threads. You start with a name in an old manuscript and then find yourself following stories attached to the Irish landscape.

That's one of the things I enjoy most about Irish folklore. Traditions remain in motion, allowing characters and stories to be reinterpreted over time, so that each generation can preserve its own understanding while adding new layers of meaning.

So this is my own Ogma.

He is simply seated beneath the sun, calm and thoughtful. A figure surrounded by colours, patterns and winding lines, because words have always felt a bit like that : they connect things, they leave traces behind.

Lately, my days have been filled with commissions and print orders, and I couldn't be happier about it.Like many artists...
12/06/2026

Lately, my days have been filled with commissions and print orders, and I couldn't be happier about it.

Like many artists, I've felt the effects of a difficult and uncertain time, and my little workshop has been a bit quieter than I'd hoped. Seeing people welcome these paintings into their homes again means more than I can say.

Now it's time for me to disappear behind a pile of gold leaf and paintbrushes. I'll leave you in Rhiannon's company while I work ✹

A little adventure begins. 🌿Many of you have encouraged me to write a book. I'm not quite there yet, but I've finally ta...
06/06/2026

A little adventure begins. 🌿

Many of you have encouraged me to write a book. I'm not quite there yet, but I've finally taken the plunge and started a Substack. It feels like a good place to begin!

You'll still find plenty of art & mythology here... But this will be a space for longer reflections on myths, identity, memory, folklore, and the ways stories continue to live with us.

The first post is now up, and I'd love to know what you think.

Link in the comments. ❀

🌞 One year ago, I was painting Áine 🌞A year ago, I was working on this portrayal of Áine, one of the most beloved and en...
03/06/2026

🌞 One year ago, I was painting Áine 🌞

A year ago, I was working on this portrayal of Áine, one of the most beloved and enduring figures of Irish folklore and mythology.

Áine is closely associated with the landscape of County Limerick, particularly Lough Gur and the nearby hill of Cnoc Áine, traditionally known as Knockainey. Her name still lives in the place itself.

In the medieval stories, Áine appears as a goddess, a fairy queen, a woman of sovereignty, and a powerful otherworldly figure whose nature shifts depending on the tale being told. She is associated with the sun, fertility, prosperity, love, cattle, and the flourishing of the land. Horses appear frequently in traditions connected to her, particularly red horses and mares, linking her to movement, power, and the vitality of the landscape.

For centuries, people gathered on Cnoc Áine around midsummer. Bonfires were lit, torches carried across the fields, and blessings sought for crops, animals, and the coming harvest. Some of these customs survived well into the nineteenth century, blending older beliefs with later folk traditions.

If you'd like to learn more about Áine's mythology, I highly recommend listening to Episode 93, Cnoc Áine, by Candlelit Tales on SoundCloud.

I’m very happy to finally share this, my first solo exhibition is officially planned for September!!The opening night wi...
29/05/2026

I’m very happy to finally share this, my first solo exhibition is officially planned for September!!

The opening night will take place on Wednesday, September 2nd, in Monaghan.

This feels like a really special milestone for me, and if you happen to be anywhere near Monaghan at that time, I would absolutely love for you to come along.

It would be such a pleasure to meet some of you in person, to share this moment together, and to have the chance to chat properly outside of a screen.

More details will follow soon, but for now, please save the date if you’d like to join me 😊

A few people have asked lately how commissions work, so here is a little explanation 😊If you’d like to commission a piec...
28/05/2026

A few people have asked lately how commissions work, so here is a little explanation 😊

If you’d like to commission a piece, just send me a message with as much information as you can:

‱ the theme or subject you have in mind
‱ an approximate size
‱ your budget, if you already have one in mind
‱ a deadline, if the piece is for a specific occasion

From there, we chat about your idea, refine everything together, and make sure we are both happy with the direction.

Once we agree on all the details, I gather everything we discussed into a clear summary so we both know exactly what has been agreed, then I begin the work.

Commissions are always collaborative in spirit, I want to create something meaningful that truly fits your vision .

If you have an idea in mind, feel free to reach out ✹

Oisín is one of the figures from Irish mythology I keep coming back to. There’s something incredibly sad about him, but ...
14/05/2026

Oisín is one of the figures from Irish mythology I keep coming back to. There’s something incredibly sad about him, but also strangely beautiful. He lives several lives at once, never fully belonging to only one world.

He is the son of Fionn mac Cumhaill and Sadhbh, a woman who had been turned into a deer by the druid Fer Doirich after refusing him. She escaped into the forests of Ireland and wandered there for years before finding shelter with Fionn. Under his protection, she became human again, and OisĂ­n was born.

Then Sadhbh disappeared once more, taken back into the wild before OisĂ­n was old enough to truly know her. In many ways, he grows up marked by that absence.

Later in life, Oisín meets Niamh Chinn Óir, Niamh of the Golden Hair, who comes from Tír na nÓg, the Otherworld, riding a white horse across the sea. He leaves Ireland with her and spends what feels like only a few years in the Land of Youth, while centuries pass back home.

Eventually he wants to see Ireland again, his Fianna friends, the landscapes he once knew. Niamh warns him not to touch the ground when he returns. Of course... he does! In most versions, he tries to help men struggling to lift a stone, falls from the horse, and time catches up with him all at once.

For this painting, I wanted the clothing to almost work like a narrative space. Little fragments stitched together, symbols, colours, shapes that feel like pieces of different worlds and different moments of his life.

The deer, linked to Sadhbh, is painted warm and fully present. She feels real, embodied, close. The white horse of Niamh is much paler , almost like something half remembered, or maybe something already fading back into the Otherworld.

OisĂ­n spent his whole life standing between worlds, never fully able to stay in either of them.

Hi everyone,If this piece speaks to you, feel free to like, comment, or share it, it really helps my work be seen, espec...
27/04/2026

Hi everyone,

If this piece speaks to you, feel free to like, comment, or share it, it really helps my work be seen, especially these days where the algorithm tends to make artists a bit invisible ❀

This is Emer, from the Ulster Cycle, often reduced to “the faithful wife of CĂș Chulainn”, which is honestly a very small version of who she is in the stories.

This painting is based on an episode from the Serglige Con Culainn (“The Wasting Sickness of CĂș Chulainn”).

It begins at Samhain. Two beautiful birds appear on a lake, linked together by a golden chain, their song lulling people into sleep. Emer understands they are not ordinary birds, that they belong to the Otherworld, and she advises CĂș Chulainn not to pursue them. He doesn’t listen, throws his weapons, and wounds one.

Soon after, as he rests, two women of the Otherworld come to him, the same beings he attacked in bird form, and they beat him, leaving him close to death. He falls into a long illness.

A woman named LĂ­ Ban later tells him he can be healed if he agrees to help Fand, a woman of the Otherworld who lives apart from her husband, ManannĂĄn mac Lir. He goes, fights for her, stays with her, and they fall deeply in love.

When Emer learns of this, she does not remain silent. She goes to them with armed women, intending to kill Fand. That anger is real.

But when she understands the depth of their bond, she chooses to let CĂș Chulainn go.

Fand, seeing this, is deeply moved, and refuses in turn to take Emer’s place.

Fand returns to ManannĂĄn. CĂș Chulainn is left broken, wandering in distress, until the druids intervene and give him a drink of forgetfulness. Emer receives one as well.

Nothing is truly resolved, the story is simply erased.

In this painting, I focused on that quiet moment, when she drinks and forget.

Thank you so much for being here, and for supporting my work đŸ€

Hello everyone,If this piece speaks to you, feel free to like, share, or leave a comment, it really helps more than you ...
19/04/2026

Hello everyone,

If this piece speaks to you, feel free to like, share, or leave a comment, it really helps more than you might think, especially these days where artists can easily disappear into the void of the algorithm 💛

Today, I’m sharing Fódla.

When the Milesians arrived in Ireland, each of the three sisters met them, and each, in her own way, asked that the island would bear her name. Ériu’s name is the one that remained in common use, Éire, but Banba and Fódla were not forgotten, and their names continued to live on in poetry and tradition.

Fódla is therefore not just a figure, she is one of the names of Ireland itself, Fódla na hÉireann, a poetic way of speaking of the land.

In this painting, the face is intentionally softened, almost receding, because I did not want the gaze to settle on a human figure as the centre of everything.

For a long time, people have drawn a line between nature and culture, placing them on opposite sides, as if one had to stand above the other.

That way of thinking does not sit right with me.

I see them as part of the same whole, something continuous, where everything is connected, and where we are not outside observers, but participants.

Here, the figure does not dominate anything, she does not represent the land from a distance, she is within it, shaped by the same lines, the same movements, the same forms, just like everything else.

Maybe it is time to stop trying to stand apart, and to learn again how to be part of something, more gently, with a bit more attention, and a bit more respect.🌿

Airmed is one of the healers of the Tuatha DĂ© Danann, daughter of Dian CĂ©cht, the chief physician, and sister of Miach.D...
02/04/2026

Airmed is one of the healers of the Tuatha DĂ© Danann, daughter of Dian CĂ©cht, the chief physician, and sister of Miach.

During the Second Battle of Mag Tuired (Cath Maige Tuired), Miach replaces the silver arm of Nuada with a living one, healing him completely. Dian CĂ©cht, unable to accept being surpassed, kills his own son.

Miach is buried, and from his grave grow all the healing plants of the world, each one corresponding to a part of the body.

Airmed gathers them, studying each herb, trying to understand and organise this knowledge.

But Dian CĂ©cht intervenes again. He scatters the plants, preventing that knowledge from being fully recorded or transmitted.

Because of this, it is said that no one knows all the healing properties of herbs, only fragments remain.

In Irish, luibheanna means herbs, and the word carries this deep connection between healing, land, and memory.

Airmed remains a quieter figure in the texts, but her story holds this moment where knowledge is carefully gathered, and then deliberately undone.

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