Instrumental Artwork

Larry Robinson with the design for the Lindisfarne ProjectLarry Robinson is one of the finest artists in the music business. And by artist I mean he decorates guitars and banjos, among other things, with intricate and beautiful inlays. Robinson has been in the business since the early 1970’s and continues his work today.

In August of 2007 he began an intricate project to inlay a guitar with the celtic patterns and designs found in the pages of the Lindisfarne Gospels. This is an illustrated copy of the four Gospels from the early 8th Century. The artwork is beautiful and very challenging looking. Robinson finished the work, which he calls the Lindisfarne Project two years later in August of 2009. Here are a couple pictures of the finished work.

The really interesting aspect of this project is that Robinson blogged his way through it, posting regularly throughout the two year process, detailing each stage of the project from design, material selection, tool selection, the work of cutting the inlays, all the way through the finished process. The blog includes detailed descriptions of the work at each stage, along with photos. For anyone interested in fine inlay art and/or woodwork this would be worth some time to read through. It would be almost like reading an illustrated novel or watching a two year episodic television show.

For more, and larger, photos, and to read the story of this incredible project, visit http://www.robinsoninlays.com/Lindisfarne/