Amhrán na bhFiann / The Irish National Anthem
Design Process
Celtic Border Pencil Rough
Preliminary pencil sketch of the Celtic border,
Pencil on tracing paper.
This was a commission from the office of the Taoiseach (the Prime Minister of Ireland) It came about while I was there on another related commission – (I will post a blog of this at a later date).
I was told was that the plan was that there would be a copy of this in every classroom in Ireland, sadly that never happened.
This commission I knew from the beginning would have to be assembled digitally but I was determined that all the elements would be drawn and painted by hand.
The following images show the creation process of the image.
I had just finished this project, got approval to print the finshed image I paid for its printing in both an A3 poster format and an A4 print when this happened :
The music and wording of the National Anthem was used in a 2015 TV advertisement by former Kerry footballer Paul Galvin to promote a line of clothing at Dunnes Stores.
Fianna Fáil Senator Mark Daly, rapporteur for the relevant Seanad public consultation committee, said Trinity College’s Prof Eoin O’Dell would appear before the committee on Tuesday to discuss how and what sanctions might be applied for such inappropriate use of the National Anthem
Amhrán na bhFiann has been out of copyright since 2012, 70 years after the death of its author Peadar Kearney, Mr Daly said. He believed it was the only national anthem in this situation, while its Irish language version “was never formally adopted” by the State.
Because of this the Government decided to pause putting this project forward. – 10 years later i am still waiting for this matter to be resolved.
Celtic Border Construction
Pen & Ink preliminary drawing of the Celtic border showing construction lines of where the elements would be placed.
Four Provinces Pen & Ink Drawing
Pen & Ink drawing of the coats of arms.
Celtic Border Final Drawing
Celtic Border Final Drawing
Each of the four provinces of Ireland were painted seperatly in Acrylic, pen & ink and coloured pencil.
Then they were high resolution scanned.
The completed print.
