Reimagining Saint Patrick
I started out creating 4 different sketches based on my idea to portray a more realistic Saint Patrick facing up to the reptiles representing the old druidic beliefs.
Sketch 1: St. Patrick facing slightly away admonishing the more passive serpents. They loved it and asked me to do something more. So I did no 2
Sketch 2: It portrays a more intense Saint Patrick surrounded by coiling snakes representing the old druidic beliefs.
Sketch 3: The first of the ‘Charlton Heston’ St. Patrick’s.
I call this jokingly after the famous Charlton Heston muscular ‘Moses’ in the movie The Ten Commandments.
Sketch 4: With his arms reaching up to heaven.
They liked the Charlton Heston one because they thought it was more like St. Patrick so I continued to do more and more developed sketches of this image for them. I would Fax them the images so they could say oh we need more snakes or bring his eyeline more towards us or whatever, till finally, they gave me the go-ahead.
I was delighted and produced a masterpiece (I hope) which I thought would also make an amazing sculpture which was part of the brief.
THE ORIGINAL ARTWORK. NOTES. MARCH 2018.
This artwork was deliberately designed, in terms of imagery, as a counter to the more traditional Victorian or Irish American image of Saint Patrick as a rather naff Catholic bishop all decked out in bright snot-green skirts and with the aul sceptre and the mitre all on show as he drives the snakes from Ireland.
Not that there were EVER any snakes in Ireland. The symbol of the ancient druids was the symbol of two snakes coiled around the staff of Moses and had its origin in the alliance between the Jews of the Exodus and the proto-Celtic Gael, the tribe who helped them defeat the armies of the Pharaoh. According to the annals, this was the symbol of the invading Gael who eventually came to rule ancient Éireann or Ireland.
This banishing of the snakes in legend was symbolic rather than actual, as the old religion was incorporated into the new Christian religion, this snake and rod symbol was incorporated into the cross of the new Christian religion and that in turn became the very recognizable Celtic Cross with a Christian cross set in a snaking circle.
The Little Details
Saint Patrick himself I have portrayed as a powerful druid-like figure, imposing and compelling, charismatic and fervent. His robes are of the time, quite coarse and unsophisticated with his staff carved from Oakwood but humble in design like the man himself.
Unlike so many of our other saints, he actually did exist and left a written and well-preserved account of his life, inner doubts, and his strong unwavering faith despite his doubts and his many travails.
His cross is fanciful but the basic shape is based on a stone cross that exists with a spiral triskele added for simple decoration. The red sleeves are just for artistic effect.
The snakes are coiled almost like the images I draw as Celtic borders and just fun to draw and paint -once I worked them out with extensive pencil preliminary sketches.
The circle behind him denotes spirituality and also added decoration that I enjoy working on.
Lastly, the knotwork is pure decoration and within it, little snakes and animals are interwoven. All for the simple joy of decoration and embellishment.
The overall colour scheme is deliberately green as the national colour of Ireland and is very recognizable as such. Its addition was not a concession to the old hoary Saint Patrick imagery but my own choice and I hope it remains very distinctly Irish (not Oirish) and is used one day to raise real consciousness about the life and deeds of the real historic Saint Patrick, who mixed religious fervour with tolerance and adaptability -and with respect for the ancient religious beliefs of the people he sought to convert. 
Yep, I always liked Saint Patrick, the real one and the mythological hero too.
Art is subjective and there is no accounting for taste
The company may have loved it but when their USA MidWest market research came back the news was not good.
People didn’t know who this grey haired guy was and why were these snakes all wrapped around and confused looking.
The awful standard images of St. Patrick had resonated too strongly and were too deeply ingrained with the Irish American audience and my version -which I would like to think is somewhat more accurate -was not what they wanted and so was never used.
Sometimes I think about my millions never earned 😉
Anyway, the company went ahead with another version from a different artist who did a more conventional version. I’m being very diplomatic here. Yadwannaseeit.
I never lose a nights sleep over it though because I couldn’t sell out or continue to feed the monstrous Irish artistic charade.