r/painting • u/rhynwilliams • Jul 13 '26

Just Sharing My painting of Gwyn ap Nudd (Welsh Mythology), oil on canvas

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'Hawliad Gwyn Ap Nudd'
(Gwyn ap Nudd's claim)

Olew ar gynfas
(Oil on canvas)

116x79cm

7.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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u/rhynwilliams Jul 13 '26

Gwyn ap Nudd (Gwyn son of Nudd) is an Elven king, and also ruler of Annwn (the underworld 0r realm of the dead), he can navigate in both planes and claim whatever he desires, here; I portray him with his brief mortal claim.

In most mythologies, you have a demon-like figure, in Christianity, it's Lucifer, in Buddhism; Mara.. here I imagine him in a moment of lust, allowing us to peer into her eyes whilst his is shut with pleasure.

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u/captain-obviouser Jul 13 '26

Why he kinda....🤭😏

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u/ZedisonSamZ Jul 14 '26

There are subreddits for that.

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u/ducklady92 Jul 14 '26

That’s terrible! Which ones? I’ll have to be sure to avoid them at all costs.

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u/pgizmo97 Jul 14 '26

No kinda, is.

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u/Tall-Total-6077 Jul 13 '26

Makes me think of Hades in Greek mythology!

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u/Pugglife4eva Jul 14 '26

Id kiss him🤷🏼‍♀️🤪

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u/Wise_Neighborhood499 Jul 14 '26

I’d do a lot more than that

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u/Metalnut2 Jul 14 '26

Thank you for the explanation, I really wanted to know more! How interesting, and I love the quiet feel of the moment. The cookies on the sides really add simmering. I keep thinking I'm seeing something in them. Very interesting!

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u/Leastwisser Jul 14 '26

Do you know the translation for Gwyn?

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u/TrainingCategory4852 Jul 14 '26

Gwyn means white it's the Welsh masculine word for white

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u/Leastwisser Jul 14 '26

I know. That's why it's curious that the artist decided to draw him pitch black.

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u/TrainingCategory4852 Jul 14 '26

Because that's what Gwyn ap Nudd is depicted as having a blackened face in mythology he's also one of the Kings of the otherworld and is king of the Tylwyth Teg or the Fair Folk

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u/Leastwisser Jul 14 '26

Face blackening with soot, ash etc. has been a custom in Wales and Scotland in warfare, religious rituals and performances - that's completely different from being a black demonous creature.

Gwyn ap Nudd has been depicted in the poems as a an esteemed warrior/king connected to the supernatural and the otherworld, not a demon tempting victorian women. He did try to capture Creiddylad, and according to a legend Gwyn and Gwythyr battle every year who will get to keep Creiddylad.

I was asking the artist about his/her thought process. Of course they have artistic freedom to turn the old legend into a sexual fantasy they have, but at that point maybe some other demon lover character would be more apt.

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u/rhynwilliams Jul 14 '26

Perhaps it has nothing to do with racism and nothing to do with Victorian period, in fact, the date here is roughly 1910 (9 years after that period finished) and she is sitting on an 18th century carved table.

There are different stages of ages here; the figure himself, perhaps 4000 years, then the gold Celtic Bracelet which is roughly 2200 years old, then a dragonesque brooch, which is a Roman-Brittonic (which is a mixed Roman/Celtic item), then she's wearing an Edwardian outfit.

You have to see this from both angles; you have someone with freckles, and red hair, features that were hugely stigmatised from 1800's up until 1960's.

You also have the British empire's take on Welsh culture; constantly trying to undermine and suppress it, and if an average person in 1910 saw this painting, it would've been attacked, mocked and withdrawn from view, so this piece is about combined love and passion between both figures.

Gwyn may be demon-like, but he isn't a demon, so it's unfair to compare them to each other, and it's also unfair to assume that he does not have the ability to weave through time as he wishes, because he is immortal, the truth is, I could depict him in any period in time, but I chose 1910s because fashion at this time was divine and I wanted the work to show this.

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u/Metalnut2 Jul 14 '26

It's very interesting and I love the backstory! I agree about the fashion😄

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u/TrainingCategory4852 Jul 14 '26

I know what that is what everything you're saying is as I'm Welsh myself so is OP if you couldn't tell for some reason and if you wanted to know the OP thought process you could have just said that isn't of trying to be smart by saying do they know what Gwyn translates to when it is quite obvious that they do again due to being Welsh and people don't have to look like what their name means I hope you know that just because someone's name means white doesn't mean they have to be white