Lugh

Lugh

For the contest:

About Lugh

One of the most popular Celtic gods Lugh reigned
in ancient Ireland and traces of tributes to Lugh can still be found in traditions through the isle.
Since the dawn of more open acceptance of less mains stream religion Lugh is once again one of the most popular of Celtic gods and is honored by modern pagans of varying traditions.

Lugh is considered a God of light and has been liken to the ancient Greek god Apollo. He was considered to be the god of every skill.
He presides over lightning, the harvest, protection, healing, the union of opposites, skill in any endeavor, success, victory, games, ball sports, horse racing, commerce, the marketplace, shoes, journeys, borders and boundaries, doorways, communication, social contracts, and oaths.
He was associated with the raven and lynx but he also associated with dogs (hunting hounds). In a poem that history has attributed to Caoilte, a Fenian hero, Lugh's dog was described as a fierce and loyal companion that fought beside him battle.

Lugh's name is the subject of much debate today. Some thought his name derived from the Proton-Indo_-European root "leuk" which means flash lightening but the prevalent school of thought to day is that his name comes from the Celtic root (lugious) meaning oath. Lugh is often surrounded with solar energy and is primary looked at today as sun god, but in some schools of thought that was devoplement of the Victoria period when he was portrayed in popular culture as a god of the sun and light.
He appears in some ancient folklore as something of trickster god, similar in some aspects to Coyote of the Native American tribes of North America and Loki of the Germanic traditions.

The rainbow is said t be his sling rod, and the milky way was called Lugh's Chain. The spear of Lugh was and is well know and several traditions name him Lugh of the Long Arm because of his association with this magical spear named Brionac. The spear could act on it's own and wreak destruction, so when it was not needed by Lugh he keep it's tip submerged in the juice of ground poppy seeds to keep it under control.


About this piece:
I have chosen to portray Lugh in his guise of Sun god, god of light, and controller of storms. Handsome, young, and virile he lights our world with his eternal light.
The embroidery on his vest depicts two hounds entwined in traditional Celtic knot work to give honor to his loyal hound as told in the tale attributed to Caoilte.

This piece was quite fun and challenging. I used a mixed of traditional and digital techniques to achieve the hand painted watercolor look I was going for. The back ground is several layers of hand painted water color work that was then scanned into digital form. All the textures on the clothes and jewelry are complete repaints of clothes rendered in Daz 3D and or hand painted in Painter. The body of Lugh was hand dialed and rendered in Poser and every thing about him except the blonde hair is modeled after my beloved hubby. The render was saved in psd file format and imported to Painter where a complete repaint was done on him to get him to look exactly how I wanted him to look.


Close Up Can Be Seen Here: [link]

Tools Used: Daz 3D, Poser, Painter, Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Scanner, Wacom Tablet, Daniel Smith Watercolors, 300 Lb, Cold Press


Thank you for looking!


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