How Kevin’s Irish Art Was Born

It all began with an idea. Kevin wanted to create a gift for his Dad, Patrick Drummond, from Dublin Ireland. Kevin always admired the quiet man who spoke with a thick Dublin brogue. His Dad was not much of a talker, was not one to express his feelings outwardly, and since Kevin moved away from home in his twenties he only saw him a few times a year during visits home. Times spent with his Dad growing up, doing things with him, like fixing the family’s cars or times caring for the family’s horses, were a just a memory now. Thinking about an upcoming visit home, Kevin wanted to find a way to connect with his Dad and pay tribute to his Irish roots.

For decades, Kevin had been working as a technical illustrator. A lull in his workload freed up his time, allowing him circle back to something he enjoyed doing as a teenager: Exploring the patterns in Celtic-knot designs. Kevin had an idea of combining his illustration skills with his interest in the intricate patterns of Celtic knots to create something unique for his Dad that would celebrate his Irishness.

He carefully combed through historic fonts to find one that he could use and embellished the capital letter. Now the borders. This is what Kevin really liked to sink his teeth into. All the lines had to have no beginning and no end, and they needed to find their ways all around the page and back to the beginning of the design with no breaks. And just to make it even more complex, he added another border. All the lines in both borders had to maintain a consistent line weight on their never-ending journey in and around each other and around the subject, which is the family surname.

In the end what he created is a piece of artwork that depicts his last name, Drummond, rendered in an historic Gaelic font, embellished with a double Celtic-knot border and topped off with a curvy tree-of-life winding through the empty spaces on the page.

When I saw what Kevin had created, I knew his Dad would love it. And, I was certain that anyone with an Irish surname would feel the same way about having a piece of lovely art with their own Irish surname on it. We decided to see what we could do with his idea together. I found out what the top ten most common Irish surnames are and Kevin got work. Murphy, Kelly, Byrne, Ryan, O’Brien, Walsh, O’Sullivan, O’Connor, Doyle, and McCarthy. Each with a unique combination of Celtic knots, colors and tree-of-life configuration.

9 years later and Kevin has created unique artwork for 540+ Irish surnames, 35+ Irish places, Gaelic greetings, Celtic symbols and a line of note cards with options in Gaelic and English. Check out all of Kevin’s Irish Art here: KevinsIrishArt.com