Ireland is named after a goddess. Not many people outside of Ireland know that. Her name is Ériu, and she is part of a triple goddess alongside Fódla and Banba. She has haunted me for over fifty years, and I have no intention of letting her go.
I first drew Ériu in black and white around 1973, maybe ’74. By 1975 I had produced her for the cover of my book, Celtia. That should have been the end of it.
It wasn’t even close.
I kept coming back to her. Reworking. Rethinking. Trying to get closer to whatever it is I’ve been chasing all these years. Four versions so far, and not one of them is quite right. But they all work differently, and that’s how art works. It’s obsessional. You keep pulling at the same thread because something in it won’t leave you alone.
Ériu: Unpublished Variants
I have these on my fireplace as I have yet another variant that is unfinished that I want to complete. My studiois always like this, artworks overflowing, ideas, inspiration and that voice in my head hammering at me to do more.
Fodhla is one of the three Goddesses of Ireland along with Ériu. This artwork was started in 1985 as part of the triple goddess series, as you can see the borders are of a very similar style. This was finally finished only a few years ago.
Ériu Spiorad Sidhe
In a later iteration, Ériu Shí Spíriod, I wanted to place her in the story of the Tuatha Dé Danann coming to Ireland. She stands with a standing stone behind her, a very Irish landscape stretching out, and the ships of the Tuatha Dé Danann appearing over the horizon. A goddess waiting for her people. There are also different variants of this one two. One circular which was intended to be a plate. The two full paintings with differences in color tone and one with the ships.
And even now, there is still an Ériu sitting unfinished in my studio. Fifty years later and I’m still at it. Still trying to get closer. I will never be satisfied with this and I will never get it out of my system.
Ériu prints are available on this site, just click on the photos.
Thank you for your support!
Hi Jim,
I remember meeting you when you gave a talk in UCD, Dublin around 83/84. ( I was a student there ).
You brought along a big roll of drawings and sketches.
These were samples of your work and the things that I remember was that you sketched in pencil, then drew in ink on architectural paper – the plastic stuff.
You talked about how you loved to redraw stuff again and again to refine it.
You mentioned how , by using this paper, you could scrub colours off and start again, showing 2 versions of maybe? the cover of “Book of Conquests” – where you replaced the orange sky with blue.
Funny how this has all stuck with me from over 40 years ago !
Always loved your work – keep it up !!
Pete
Wonderful, thanks for sharing this. I love all your art, but in particular all the Irish mythology ones, including The Silver Arm, which was the album that introduced me to your work.