A New Decade Brings New Art and Thinking
About three years ago myself and Melanie Lynch, founder of HerStory Ireland, were trekking up Howth head and Melanie was telling me about her dream to start a new project which she called ‘HerStory Ireland’ based on the 70s feminist movement term for replacing the His in History with a Her and using this as a way to celebrate the lives of often forgotten women, many extraordinary and innovative, written out of history, accidentally or otherwise, or simply neglected by historians and educators.
I loved the idea and from that point onwards I was happy to allow Melanie and HerStory use my art images of Celtic Goddesses and other works of mine for reproduction and projection, like my 1916 commemoration painting of the formidable Countess Markiewicz which ended up being projected on the façade of the iconic GPO Dublin, the center and headquarters for the fighters, male and female, of the Easter Rising.
Now it’s 2020 and already HerStory have a brand new TV series titled, yep, ‘Herstory’, produced by RTE Irish Television. This series will tell us about the lives of six extraordinary Irish women who achieved greatness but whose names are hardly familiar to Irish people.
Into this mix came Brigit the Saint and Bríd the Goddess.
We already have a wonderful Saint Patrick’s Day Festival celebrating our patron saint of Ireland but for me, our real patron saint was a goddess from antiquity, Ériu (Éire=Eireann=Ireland), who gave her name to our country.
Then Melanie put the idea in my head of using the dual purpose saint/goddess, Brigit, as a new feminine patron saint and we should use it for a twin purpose:
Firstly to lobby for a proper female-centered national festival, Brigit’s Day, and secondly, to use this artwork as a symbol for HerStory Ireland for fundraising tee-shirts and merchandising.
St. Patrick Eriu
The Making of a New Artwork and New method
My initial concept featured a reed-woven Saint Brigit’s cross, a beautiful and ancient symbol but now associated with Christianity even though it predated the earliest Christian presence in Ireland.
Since the goddess, Bríd is associated with elemental fire and the healing powers of water I focused on this aspect of Bríd but I also wanted a nod towards the real Saint Brigit, whose Christian fire and water cult centered around a ‘Brigit’s Well’ of healing in County Kildare, though it is often recorded that there were at least three real and quasi-historical Christian Saint Brigit’s.
Again time was a problem so before I had even started I enlisted the help of a genius colourist, Lovern Kindzierski, who works for Marvel, DC and the rest of the majors, as I would never have had this in time if I had to physically paint it.
Here is my first finished sketch in blue pencil and the final pen and ink original.
With Every New Artwork there are New Challenges
I wanted an ageless female, not too modern, not too specific and not too saintly looking. The water and fire were important elements but the figure dictates the tone of the work so a lot of effort went into the drawing until finally, I was happy enough with my sketches to move forward.
I had fun with the water but the fire presented me with problems simply because I wanted a realistic interpretation so it was Google time.
‘Animated Fire Effects’ and hey presto! Two days immersed in YouTube vids and I knew how to create a reasonable fire effect. At least I thought so ☺
Next came the final pen and ink drawing and this took considerable time but well worth it.
I love the sheer joy of drawing and while pen and ink artwork is now a bit outdated with so many superb digital drawing programs -some I even use myself -and so many excellent marker ink pens.
I love a tangible piece of art you can touch and explore and, as an artist, I do find real pleasure in the creation process.
It is seldom I am happy with my own work but given the deadline for a Herstory launch, I am delighted it made it in time and will be projected on the GPO, Dublin, on February 1st, 2020 for our Brigit’s Day launch.
Collaboration for a New Direction
Lovern Kindzierski is highly regarded by comic book and graphic novel artists and writers. He works for the majors, Marvel and DC comics, and also for the independent publishers, has won many awards and has written a beautiful graphic novel himself.
I enjoyed creating this one, my first work of 2020, I hope all you guys enjoy it too.
-JIM FITZPATRICK
For more information about Herstory check out the website https://www.herstory.ie/home
To check out more amazing art from Lover Lovern Kindzierski click here: Marvel Fandom and to buy some of his work Amazon.com