Brigit (AKA Saint Brigit) was the Gaelic goddess of poetry which the Gaels deemed an immaterial, supersensual form of flame. She was also considered the most important of the Dagda's children. 

    Terrifying battle goddesses were invoked in times of conflict and presided over war, nature, animals, healing and fertility. Mother goddesses were venerated and entreated in prayer for the fertility of crops and livestock.

     Many goddesses were associated with animal totems, such as birds, bears, deer, snakes, wolves and many others. Fantastic feminine creatures and legendary women abounded in these stories as well. 

    A striking characteristic of these pagan religions is the belief in Animism, that all things are inhabited by spirits such as  fairies. The spirits were believed to surround mankind in all aspects of life and death. This all pervading spiritual presence is a feature common to many polytheistic religions; another is that these spirits are both male and female. This concept of divine partnership is a prominent aspect in many polytheistic religions from ancient times to this very day..

 This contrasts sharply with the monotheistic religions who's establishments tend to ignore the feminine aspects of deity mentioned in the scriptures and present divinity as purely masculine.  I started doing mythical illustrations to teach my children about their Gaelic Celtic heritage because I could find hardly any art to show them when I told them the old stories. When I began working on this collection of illustrations in 1995 I employed the methods I learned as a scientific illustrator.  I thought I was dealing ONLY with Mythology, which I define as a dead religion.  I am so glad now that I treated the material with respect. What a surprise to find out after I exhibited them that these religions had revived in new forms.  I say NEW forms because claims that Modern Celtic Paganism is the exact same religion practiced by the Druids and the Ancient Celts are impossible to substantiate.  This is because Ancient Celtic and Nordic tribes, like the Pre-Historic Hebrews had no written language and relied on oral tradition. The revivals of Classical paganism are also in new forms because the concept of divine partnership is absent and they DID have written languages. (Not to mention human sacrifices- yikes!) Personally, I think these illustrations are mad amounts of fun and love them but I relate to them as adventure stories, and a celebration of our shared cultural heritage and traditions. I'm sure you can tell by the art that I deeply respect the beliefs of others...

~ Howard David Johnson

 

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New for 2010! "Celtic Queen Boudica and the Morrigu" Left (Digital & Mixed Media) and "Queen Mab, the Bringer of Dreams" MMVI (Oil on Canvas).

Howard David Johnson works in a wide variety of media * Oil paintings * Acrylic Paintings * Prismacolor Paintings * Drawings * Chalk & Oil Pastel Paintings * Photography * and last but not least: Digital Artistry & Mixed Media *  Because of the use of photography in everything he does, even David's all-oil paintings can be termed mixed media.*

New for 2010! "Justitia, Roman goddess of Justice" (2010 mixed media) AKA Lady Justice and "Athene, goddess of wisdom and Justice" 2009 (20 X 16 oil on canvas.)  Scroll down to find out about licensing and original art for sale...

"The Oracle" (2009 version Mixed Media) above left and "The Lady of Shalott" (2010 Mixed Media) above right and center.

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Pandora, according to Hesiod, was the first woman. 

Pandora's Box; After Prometheus had stolen fire from heaven and bestowed it upon mortals, Zeus determined to counteract this blessing. 

He commissioned Hephaestus to fashion a woman out of the Earth and the gods all bestowed upon her their choicest gifts, such as Aphrodite's beauty and powers of seduction. Zeus gave her a jar, the so called "Pandora's Box" secretly containing all the misery and evils of this world. She was forbidden nothing in this world save to open this box.

 Her curiosity proved too much for her and she opened it, freeing all manner of evil spirits and negative energy. Hope alone remained at the bottom, the lid having been shut down before she escaped.

This story- like so many others is paralleled in the myths and legends of cultures all over the ancient world.

MANY PIECES OF ORIGINAL ART ON PAPER LIKE THESE ARE AVAILABLE:

Many pieces are currently available, mostly 11x14-13x16 inch Prismacolor Paintings (like Helen of Troy) and pencil portraits (like Arriba #2) followed in number by Acrylic, Prismacolor and pastel mixed media all on #400 Strathmore Bristol Board ranging from $700.00-$1400. 00 USD and Oil Paintings on canvas ranging from $1999.00 - 10,000.00 USD.  Pieces that have never been rendered in oil can be commissioned in 16x20 inch size on canvas for 50% down and delivered in under 90 days with signed certificates of authenticity aka legal documents pledging never to render it in that size and media again to ensure premium collectability and investment potential.

David can also do a completely new picture designed in digital media (for more on this visit his digital media page) and when we approve the photo-montage, he uses it as reference to render it in oil on canvas. No surprises.  Existing Artwork is shipped very well protected and go out to you immediately via Fed Ex or USPS Express mail upon receipt of payment at our expense. All new creations cost a bit more depending on what is involved. All new creations and rendering photo montages into art on paper are a LOT of fun with e-mail attachments and digital cameras.  

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ORIGINAL OIL PAINTINGS ON CANVAS LIKE THIS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE:

Almost all of Johnson's Mixed Media creations (above left) displayed in this site are available to be rendered in oil on canvas like the 20x16 oil on canvas Faerie Guardians 2006 (above right). Each design will only be rendered in oil once at this size and can be delivered in as little as 90 days. Sadly, much of the subtlety, vibrance, lustre and impact of an original oil painting is lost when it is scanned and imported to digital media or even printed by a master printer. Nothing can compare to an original oil painting viewed in person in my opinion but the other painting media definitely look good in print and have their charms and distinct advantages as well.

New for 2010! Want to be a goddess? David is now accepting commissions for "Fantasy" Portraits!

e-mail for more details at

info@howarddavidjohnson.com

Celtic Fairy Art and Fairies and Goddesses of Howard David Johnson! ~ Short films by Flylicious84 & Annemeraude

Thank you for Visiting... Your  business, letters, & links are always welcome.

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Custom Illustration and Gorgeous Quality High Resolution Printing Masters With Publishing Licenses!

for Commercial use in 

 Books Cards Posters Magazines CDs DVDs Videos & more are available at reasonable rates.

COMMERCIAL SIZE 300 DPI PRINTING MASTER FILES ARE AVAILABLE FOR ALL HIS PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS AND MONTAGES - EXTRA SPACE FOR BOOK COVER SIZE AND FORMATTING AVAILABLE

E-MAIL FOR COURTEOUS &  SPEEDY SERVICE

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ON SALE NOW from BRANDYWINE PRESS!

        These beautifully printed 11" x 8.5" 64 page hardcover and trade paperback versions feature 48 full page interior plates in full color starting at only $14.99 USD. Less than the price of a single poster! Featuring Realistic Mythological and Fairy Art created in a style inspired by Classic Illustrators by American Artist & Photographer Howard David Johnson. And new for 2010 - our GIANT sized 12 month Angel Art Calendar!

Click on the covers to order the books from Lulu.com

ALSO: Click on the CREDIT CARD logo  below to

VISIT POD PUBLISHING FOR BEAUTIFUL POSTER SIZE REPRINTS 

AND A VARIETY OF PAYMENT OPTIONS, SIZES, PAPERS, AND PRICES

Greek Mythology

Asian Mythology

Symbolist Art

Commercial Art

Legends of History

About the Artist

This Art Gallery has been honored by more than 25 million Unique Visitors

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Ingerii si arta sublim inspirata~ a film by Veveshakti

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Thank you for Visiting the Women of Mythology art page... Your  business, letters, & links are always welcome.

All images copyright 1993-2010 Howard David Johnson all rights reserved.

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STYLE and TECHNIQUE

"Those who are enamoured of practice without science are like a pilot who goes into a ship without rudder or compass and never has any certainty where he is going. Practice should always be based upon a sound knowledge of theory, of which perspective is the guide and gateway, and without it nothing can be done well in any kind of painting."

Bonus Section:

Personal Opinion Essays on Realistic Art yesterday and today by the artist.

In addition to his mastery of traditional media, Howard David Johnson now combines drawing, painting, photography, and digital media with more than thirty years of experience in these fields to create his Realistic Art Numérica in 21st century paintings and pictures.

Did you know the Greek word "Photography" means "Painting with Light"? Today with the advent of computers it truly lives up to it's name. Due to developments in Art and Technology, a broader definition of painting is needed than that which is found in common usage.

Announcing Art Numérica -an exciting merger of traditional visual art and cutting edge technology... a new art form for the twenty- first century... Art Numérica is not limited to realistic art but also offers limitless horizons for everything from cartoons to abstractions.

It is the most dramatic development in the visual arts since the Renaissance. In the words of Al Jolson in the movie world's first talking picture" You ain't seen nothin' yet!"

"Painting, in art, the action of laying colour on a surface, or the representation of objects by this means. Considered one of the fine arts"

~Encyclopaedia Britannica. 

"Painting. noun. 1.) The act or employment of laying on colors or paints. 2.) The art of forming figures or objects in colors on canvas or any other surface, or the art of representing to the eye by means of figures and colors any object; the work of an illustrator or painter. 3.) A picture; a likeness or resemblance in shape or colors. 4.) Colors laid on. 5.) Delineation that raises a vivid image in the mind; as in word painting.

~ Webster's Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language

	Snobbism in the arts is nothing new. Some people will tell you that oils are the only valid medium for realistic paintings. That Colored Pencil, Digital, and other Realistic Painting and Drawing Media are not valid  for "real" art. Young artists, Don't let them bother you. Their forerunners used to condemn Pastels before they gained acceptance and called them "crayons" when Johann Alexander Thiele (1685-1752) invented them.  Mercilessly disrespectful  art critics of the time could not stop the Experimentalists no matter how viciously they attacked and derided them. "Crayon-painting" as it was called in England was practiced early on by persecuted pioneers in Switzerland and many other nations. What a debt we owe to these master artists who refused to knuckle under to the pressure of those short-sighted critics during those historic and experimental times. It took until 1870 with the founding of the "Societe` Des Pastellistes" in France that respect came  at last to these heroic & immortal visual artists.
In England the liberation of the Pastellists from slight regard and undeserved disrespect came with the first exhibition of "The Pastel Society" at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1880. Pastel Painters like Mary Cassat and others from America and other nations forever silenced  the snobs with their masterworks and gained recognition at long last for Thiele's invention as a valid art medium. I am persuaded that history will repeat itself.  Like Pastels, I believe these wonderful new colored pencils and even Digital Realistic Art Media will one day receive the recognition they deserve as powerful mediums of artistic expression just as pastel paintings did. What is your definition of art? Have you thought about it? Mine is: "anything that makes you feel or think." Pastel, Acrylics, and Colored Pencils combined The detail reveals Realistic art and abstract art combined      Consider dancing... it can be a little skip in the step or rise to the level of the incomparable Russian Ballet. Did you know that just the materials alone for a single oil painting cost up to a thousand dollars these days? Even paying the artist less than minimum wage no one but the super rich can afford them anymore. Something's got to give. Realistic paintings in oil have been highly prized for centuries and the appeal and following of realistic art is undiminished to this day. Oil paintings featuring Abstract Art and Realistic Art are generally the most treasured form of all the visual art media and with good reason. But snobbish art critics  favoring abstract art have declared  that realistic paintings, or illustrations are not art for a century. With so many representationalist  paintings by so many immortal master artists hanging in the Louvre, the Hermitage, and the British Museum and others I think the disrespect for realistic illustrators that dominated the 20th century is academically ridiculous as well as vain and intolerant, insisting theirs is the only valid opinion. What is your definition of Art? I believe almost any form of human expression can be raised to the level of "high art" especially  visual art and Realistic illustration...
	By my own definition of art, which is: "anything that makes you feel or think" most abstract paintings are not "real art" to me personally, because abstract paintings usually neither make me feel or think,  usually focusing obsessively on technique and avoiding any coherent content. I usually draw a complete blank mentally and emotionally when I look at them. In 1979 the Houston Metropolitan Museum of Art displayed a triptych of 3 giant   paintings they paid fifty thousand dollars for-  three blank white canvasses entitled "untitled". Then there was "The incredible new artistic Genius" with an I.Q. of 62 ...Congo the chimpanzee with his gala New York art exhibition...an elaborate prank played on the Snobbish American Art critics about a generation ago by research scientists in the field of primatology. Imagine how upset they were when he created one of his "ingenious masterpieces" right before their eyes. ( My Source for this is the Time Life Science Library volume entitled "The Primates". )
Art education has been almost completely removed from American Schools as a result of generations of this kind of  fabulous nonsense contributing to America's cultural illiteracy crisis. Now, the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and other notables are being removed from school libraries.  After generations of this, most American college graduates today cannot name even one living visual artist, abstract or realistic. There is no way that mandating more math, requiring more reading, or scheduling more science will replace what we have lost as a culture.     What is your definition of Art? ~HDJ *****
Note: Abstract Paintings by Congo the Chimpanzee outsold Warhol and Renoir by over 25,000 dollars in June 2005 at a London art auction. Born in 1954, Congo created more than 400 drawings and paintings between the ages of two and four. He died in 1964 of tuberculosis. There is no precedent for this kind of sale.

The Rebirth of Realism

More thoughts on realistic art yesterday and today by the artist

Art History has entered a new era with the birth of Art Numérica, or digital art media in the 21st century. Artists never stop exploring with mediums. Artists have been developing techniques, experimenting with different tools since at least twenty- five thousand years ago, when the first artist picked up a charred stick and scratched a picture out on the wall of his cave. You'd think everything would have been tried by now, but it hasn't. Exploring new mediums this very day is just as exciting, just as full of freshness and newness as it ever was.

          Immortal giants of realistic art such as Maxfield Parrish were mistreated their entire lives. They were accused of selling out for creating beautiful pieces of realistic fine art to earn a living. The attitude that the true artist must suffer and starve and die in poverty became a rule. There were the Abstract art superstars, the professional realistic illustrators, and the hobbyists who, although cut off from gainful employment and social influence still recognized their artistic gifts as a calling rather than a profession. Early abstract art  masters proved themselves as realistic artists before delving into realms of the intangible. They had to do this at that time to prove themselves because of the challenges they faced from the establishment for going against the status quo. In the latter part of the 20th century, realistic artists like HDJ were challenged to do abstract art to prove themselves as shown in the example above (Deirdre of the sorrows). Later realistic art training was abandoned in most schools and things like splattering paint in fits of rage  were deemed more than enough. By the end of the 20th century something as destructive and ridiculous as nailing a pack of cigarettes to a shoe was considered fine art but not realistic paintings. Fashions in art have often been as silly as fashions in ladies hats.  As the century drew to a close, many people had had enough. The realistic revolt was at hand. The rebirth of realism was fueled by the advent of the digital era. Now, for the first time in almost two centuries, an artist or illustrator could earn a decent living again with his realistic art. This is historic. Realistic art is not going to go away, especially now that photography has truly merged with traditional realistic visual art. Photography comes from the Greek words meaning "painting with light". Now with the advent of digital media the capability of realistic art has become almost limitless, truly, "painting with light". The merger of all the world's art forms to realize the potential of motion pictures has come now to still realistic art media. This website for example, combines music, prose, poetry, photography and traditional realistic art media to create an experience beyond merely looking at realistic paintings.

         The twenty- first century is already seeing a new renaissance in the arts because of the world wide web. There has never been anything like it. Abstract art, computer art, photographic art, and realistic art are continuing to be separate schools of art but are also blending to create exciting new horizons. Although Digital art does offer completely new horizons to the artist in the 21st century it does not mean the end of our time honored art traditions. Instead, it offers additional ways to keep these traditions and schools of thought  fresh and alive.

~ HDJ

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