Back in the 1980s, I decided to finally paint the triumvirate of goddesses of the mystical Tuatha Dé Danann, who gave their name to the Ireland of Ireland in antiquity, Ériu, Fódhla, and Banbha.
In 1974 I had drawn my first image of the goddess Ériu as line drawing and a cover image for my book Celtia. I also decided on a new larger format with the original border expanded to both sides of the image for balance.
I had produced this on a new line drawing of Ériu earlier and it looked pretty impressive so I decided this would be ideal for the new series of the three goddesses and started on both Ériu and Fodhla.
Around that time I was friends with a beautiful Irish model, Sharon Bacon, and had already drawn a portrait of her for her wedding gift so I produced a few images and eventually settled on a final pencil drawing that worked for me after a few false starts.
The image came from a photograph Sharon Bacon gave me of her in a beautiful silk dress designed by Richard Lewis, a close friend of the model who was also his muse. I used this as my basic reference.
With the drawing ready to go and the painting drawn up and planned, my life descended, for various reasons, into chaos and I never finished the work and there it languished, in my attic, along with so many other unfinished works, for over twenty years.
In 2012 I decided to try to finish it once more and this time it went like a dream. Back in 1985, under immense pressure from outside factors, I had enlisted the help of an assistant, Jeff Adams, who was skilled at Celtic line work, and Helen Reynolds, who worked on the beautiful colour scheme for the final painting.
This time I took my final attempt at finishing it properly and spent the time needed to add a kind of an ancient, slightly burnt, manuscript edge and those other little details that I always feel give it life.
FÓDHLA. GODDESS OF IRELAND
Fódhla, with her sister goddesses Ériu and Banbha, was one of a triumvirate of divine female spirits of that mystical tribe known as the Tuatha Dé Danann, who gave their names to the island of Ireland in the earliest times BC.
When the last of five successive invaders, the Milesians, invaded Ireland, each of the three goddesses asked the poet and bard, Amergin, that their names be given to the country. Amergin agreed and so it was that the island of Ireland was named, in turn, Ériu, Banbha, and Fódhla.
Today only the name of the goddess Ériu
(Éireann=Érin=Ireland) retains this honour while the other female names for Ireland have all but been forgotten -but these were not just blithe spirits full of joy and goodwill.
As the Milesian invaders journeyed through the Island they were attacked and harassed by a ‘swift fairy host’ led by Fodhla and the ferocious black crow goddess, the Morrigan, who was worshipped by Fodhla, according to the annals.
It is also worth noting this painting of Fodhla represents the dark-skinned, North African/middle eastern roots of the Tuatha Dé, while Ériu represents the fair-skinned red-haired elements within this tribe while Banbha would represent the Nordic elements.
Even Irish mythology has a habit of confounding the critics who seek solace in the obvious as they see it.
It is hard for them to admit that such a mix of races in our genealogy especially when we now know this to be a truth. The earliest Irish body ever found, only recently on Rathlin Island is not of a white Celtic race. I’ll leave it at that for the moment ☺
One other item of note: The standing stone depicted in my painting of Fodhla is actually based on the real standing stone on Bere Island, which I photographed years ago.
This standing stone has a direct connection with the Tuatha Dé Danann, the tribe of the triple goddesses. It reputedly marks the spot where Fodhla and her race landed first in Ireland and of course I had painted this once before for a painting of Bere Island commissioned by Jeffrey O’Byrne White CEO of Cityjet so the serendipity was beautiful.
In the painting of Fodhla, I depict this same standing stone as freshly created and inscribed before the centuries of harsh weathering reduced it to the large 10 foot high pitted hulk that remains today, maybe 5,000 years later.
I suppose the fact that such an important marker still stands to this day is a real tribute to the local people who respect their own rich heritage and protect it.
