Pen, ink and acrylic. Size A1. 34”x 24”.
It starts with a dream
This painting, titled ‘Mórfís the Druid’, was inspired by a dream driven by my own obsession with early Irish myth and legend allied to my endless reading about the tales of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the early invasions of the island of Ireland in most ancient times.
A central character in the mythology, Morfis, was a druid, a seer, a wizard and a sorcerer, a central figure in the pantheon of new gods brought to Ireland by the invaders and conquerors in our prehistory.
In the dream, I saw this tall, rather elegant druid with a staff in one hand and a kind of symbol in the other. There was also the figure of that seductive Celtic war witch in the foreground, The Mórrigan, a figure similar to the Valkyrie, foretelling death and destruction.
It was a dream, not a vision but it did get me started and I followed the path of the dream to create the very elaborate and finished pencil drawing for the painting.
Nothing is ever clear in a dream, rather it is like peering through a dense mist trying to see ahead, but nevertheless, there was plenty there to inspire this work and the enormous time it took to finish.
The Tuatha Dé Danann
Of all the early races to come to Ireland in ancient times by far the most mysterious, compelling and magical of them all was the deeply mystical tribe known as the Tuatha Dé Danann, listed in our most ancient annals as the fifth invaders and conquerors of Ireland
My endless fascination with the mystical Tuatha Dé Danann obviously centred around the pantheon of their gods and the various and compelling personalities that flow through the pages of the accounts of their presence in Ireland.
From the very first time I listened to folk tales about the Daoine Shí, the Fairy Folk, when I was a kid staying with my aunt in County Clare, to my discovery of the Irish Text Society’s translations of ‘Lebor Gabála’, The Book of Invasions, my interest in them became almost all-consuming.
In the list of importance of the magical cities and sacred objects brought by them to Ireland shown in the annals are the names of their four chief druids and Morfís is listed as, ‘a wizard of renown’.
The four druids were Morfis (Morfeasa), the great ‘wizard of renown’ and also a poet, and his companion druids, Easras, Uiscias and Seimhias, as stated in the ancient annals:
Fálias and bright Goirias,
Fionnias, Muirias of great prowess,
From which battles were won outside,
The names of the chief cities.
Mórfheasa and noble Easras,
Uiscias and Séimhias ever-fierce,
To name them, – a discourse of need –
The names of the sages of noble wisdom.
Mórfheasa the poet of Fálias itself,
Easras in Goirias, of keen desires,
Séimhias in Muirias, fortress of pinnacles,
Uiscias the fair poet of Fionnias.
‘These are the great treasures they brought with them:
Spear of Lúgh, no battle was maintained against it or him who had it in his hand.
Sword of Nuadha, no one escaped who had been wounded by it, and when it was drawn from its warlike scabbard, no one could resist against him who had it in his hand.
Cauldron of the Daghdha, no assembly of guests went away unsatisfied.
The Lia Fáil, which is at Teamhair, never spoke except under a king of Ireland.’
Mórfís and The Mórrigan
Obviously, Mórfís is an important figure, a bit like Merlin in the Arthurian Cycle, brooding and fascinating, reminding us of the pervasive presence of the druids and their importance in this war of the gods for control of Ireland.
They play a key role in the epic battles for the sovereignty of the land described in the tales of the conquest of Ireland by the tribes of the Tuatha Dé and the taking of this island from the dreaded Fomor.
In this painting, I was determined to quietly show the power and influence of Mórfís the druid, but I placed the war witch, Mórrigan, the war-goddess and beautiful seductive shapeshifter and triple goddess as the central figure in the painting with the powerful figure of Mórfís overseeing all.
The other figures are simply the work of my own imagination and each has their place in the balance of the composition.
You will doubtlessly notice this painting of Morfís the Druid is slightly erotic, reflecting the rather sexual nature of the old texts and their description of the powerful, all-consuming sexuality of the central character goddess, The Morrigan.
Remember these ancient texts are pretty sexually explicit and hardly a battle occurs without one or other of the protagonists copulating with a river goddess in the hope of predicting a favourable outcome.
I deliberately set out with this painting to make it just a little erotic and disturbing but it is also subliminally echoing one of my own favourite classical Impressionist works, ‘Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe’ by Manet.
This was one very personal painting taking six months of hard work and effort. It is, after all, laced with sexuality and bearing a likeness to a model friend who worked with me at that time, which is one of many reasons — beyond publishing it in 1984 —it is not on my website, but it’s certainly my best work.
Up against my hero Harry Clarke
On reflection, this was my own attempt to create a masterpiece that would outlive me but one never knows. How many artists like myself try to make our mark on the world and live to see our work lauded? Not many.
I hit a peak with it.
In one interview recently I was asked about this painting and I mentioned “It took me so long to do this one. I was putting myself mentally up against my hero, Harry Clarke, so you’ll see a lot of his influence in it.”
Working Artist
It is also worth mentioning the implications of taking so much time to produce a work like this one for a number of reasons.
The first thing to remember is that no one pays me for this kind of work, I do it for myself to satisfy a voracious inner drive.
I am not rich or fully independent even today, after a long lifetime in the arts. I have never received a single Arts Council or government grant in my life because I never pay homage to the right people or give them my respect.
I have been a rebel, an activist. And an outsider all my life but I have somehow managed to raise, feed and educate three children, one of whom runs my website today -and I had mortgages and bills to pay like everyone else.
I have no pension, and no hidden income to fall back on today but I still manage to make a living using my wits and my website sales.
Yes, like every creative and everyone else I know I have had sleepless nights wondering where my next penny is coming from but I never once doubted my ability to survive despite the odds and provide for my family.
Just don’t ask if I came back would I do it all over again.
Codes, history, genetics and symbols
Analysing my own work is interesting as I am writing about this work from 1984, now nearly 40 years later, but I would guess that anyone who knows the art of Irish stained glass artist and book illustrator Harry Clarke would recognise the quite deliberate influence in the delineation of the central figures.
Hidden within this work is a coded tribute to Harry Clarke and many other deliberately cryptic cross-references and hidden symbols, some I can reveal, others maybe later.
I wanted to add other racial references from the annals and sneak in the Scythian influence as this appears from the manuscripts as the origin land of these various races who claimed Ireland as their ancestral lands, came here and took the island from the indigenous early Irish North African inhabitants.
This is most noticeable in my use of real, original Scythian hunting art as a reference, showing a deer being taken down by a dog, a motif regularly shown in early Irish art and especially in Pictish Scots art.
Check this motif out the in the dark band near the base alongside quite a few other arcane and also decorative artistic elements.
One last thought.
Now in more recent times, the links to the origin of these early Irish races to that area in the Steppes thousands of years ago, is also proven by top geneticists like Dr Lara Cassidy, who was kind enough to talk to me in 2022 on this important subject.
https://www.tcd.ie/Genetics/molpopgen/lara.php
-Jim FitzPatrick. March 2023.
There will be another blog all about the actual artwork and technique.