To wish all my viewers and regular browsers a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas.
I hope to have some excellent photos of my latest work in the new year as i got a terrific camera: Canon EOS 500. A wonderful camera. The images are superb! It makes a major difference to the viewers looking and appreciating art and helps me to indicate what i may say on a particular painting etc. The clarity is really amazing as apposed to my previous Canon compact, which wasn’t too bad, but………
I hope you enjoy some of the winter landscapes here by a wonderful Impressionist artist: Claude Monet. Lovely audio also with this well made short video. Look forward to posting much more in the new year folks.
Boats and yachts have been an on going fascination of mine. You can see from this oil painting there’s a calmness in the water with the fine ripples in the water in the fore ground. The sky plays a part here also - as this reflects in the water. This is called ‘harmony’: a blending of colours if you like. One thing i did get wrong: the blue yacht on the fore ground right - it’s bobbing too strongly for such calmness! These ‘fine details’ can be seen by the professional painter or critical observer. Why am i telling you this? Because showing an amateur it’ll teach you to look hard at each stage of your work in progress. Drawing skill, observation, and simplicity is the main key to producing a master piece - the rest will follow with practice and patients.
This painting was done from a watercolour about two months ago when i passed through the park. I love trees and shrubs, as i’m a gardener. This was an ideal time. The trees at their most brilliant in colour with the sunlight cascading from the right onto the grass and figures gave the whole painting life. The transparency of the yellow is a ‘cadmium yellow’ - been very expensive, but worth every penny - i think it gives a super rich brightness of quality the sunlit areas. It’s a great place to produce a painting. Photographers and birdwatchers alike seem to flock..(excuse the pun) to this lovely park no matter what season.
This is a painting which is most certainly NOT one of my favourite’s in the world. Mind you, it most interesting: A lady i know well told me when she saw it - she was ‘mad about it’. Strange, when i was certainly gonna scrap it, and maybe even have put it in the wheelie bin! Peoples opinions are an indication to me where I’m going and what i should be aiming for. Like everything in life: there’s no such thing as perfection - it’s in the eye of the beholder. This painting is: Oil on canvas ” (20X16) Painted last year.
View of 'The Wicklow Way' - from Avoca, Co. Wicklow.
I’v been painting on and off for many years.I love this place called Avoca, Co. Wicklow. Its very much a wonderful County - especially in the summer when all the fields are in full sun. The changing colours of the fields. Nature running riot. Viewing a badger running for cover through briar’s is a ’sight for sore eyes’: what a lovely animal. This is the advantages of painting outdoors. The back round is the backside of the Sugar loaf (mountain). This County is beautiful
'Murky friday morning, the icebox'
I know this is a ‘normal inclusion’ of this scene, but, i love this place. To be honest, i really feel it’s my back yard! I love the smell of the fish, the chatter from the fishermen..(who are saints i think) and the call of the gulls hovering above the trawlers. If you look hard: you’ll see no people - it was raining and everyone literary scattered for their cars. Luckily i was safe behind the wheel of mine. This was painted in about…30/40 minutes.
This is a ‘Gallery’ NOT to be missed. What a tremendous way to come up with an idea! Actually, who would ever have thought - hey, why not use these railings as cash! Oh, artists paintings maybe…? Might work…about 20 years later, hey presto! Seriously, it’s a magical place to be on a sunny afternoon. Competition among artists …no, not really. The artists actually seem to know each other by their names! Some anyway. The event itself is on three times a year: June, August and next September 18, 19, 20 (2009) This weekend’s dates: 21,22, 23 (apologies late post)
Just walk on by and absorb the view, oh, and the paintings too!
Check out the People’s Photography on the green also: On 26, 27 August. well worth the time I’m informed. Photography is something I’ve been personally interested in for many years, but never managed to have a ‘calling’ if you like. There are some seriously talented photographers here: check out the link above and see for your self.
This is a really good way of seeing Dublin City Centre. The Artists are wonderful and very helpful if you need any information about the paintings etc. Iv been to it many times, but, as regard exhibiting there..no way, just not my thing standing there all day. One thing is sure: you may come home a much richer person: financially and publicly! Quite a few artists are well known and paint professionally for a living - ie, Willie Redmond, Louise Mansfield.
(Appreciation goes to the kind people at: The Dublin Community Blog for the use of the photos)
The Nora Dunne Gallery has been an out right success to date, no doubt about it. Right for the start, the gallery has had an array of artists from all back rounds, from, amateurs to professional artists alike. Gallery Curator: Karen Harper , has a lot of experience in the field of art - been a very creative and talented Jewellery Designer/Maker herself, she has really made her mark in the gallery on the Kimmage Road. The owner: Ben Dunne is a national icon. With Ben heading a team of professional staff, he knows what he wants and seems to be a natural leader in the field of business; now with a fine art gallery under his collar, his gallery may be the next Sotheby’s of Kimmage! I always said it: It’s a truly fine gallery with great space, design and natural light…(lacking in MANY galleries).
1715 paintings have been sold since Nov 14th 2008 till 30th July 2009. Next auction - Sunday 6th September 2009. Viewing held for this auction: Thurs 27th Aug - 12 - 5pm.
"Fish delivery van at the 'Ice Box' Coal Harbour, Dun Laoire"
This is another example of watercolour done rapidly and spontaneously. Watercolour has the capacity for resourceful situations like this - i wanted to capture the white van against the dark wall of the fish storage ‘ice box’…(this is what it’s called locally) to show the contrasts and loved the colours in general of the whole marine life, with nets crab nets, trawler masts, etc. This scene has been done to death by me: as I’ve said many times before - marine life is a strong magnet that holds me and won’t let go. I think you can tell an artists love by their work; just look at the old English watercolour master Turners watercolours - breathtaking!
"Crab Boats at Bullock Harbour"
Another marine life scene with all the usual goings on at a pier/harbour. This was done again swiftly and action was needed to do a painting as this one: rain was imminent and speed and fast instinctive action was required to finish it before the whole page was soaked. You can probably see by my work the ‘quick strokes’ of the brush, especially in the foreground water. One thing i hate: the paint takes ages to dry in wet/heavy weather- that’s where you need a e multitude of patients for outdoor painting. It’s all worth it in the end i think.
This is a watercolour painting I’ve done only last week. i haven’t been on my blog in ages: answer…LAZY! Sorry folks, but forgive me. I love showing my work: not in a smirk, show off way - but, a way to show people who love and appreciate ‘Plein Air’ painting, or painting from out in the great outdoors: nothing like it. It’s the REAL way to capture the landscape, especially here in this wonderful land called Ireland: simply breathtaking! If you study the sky you will see I’ve overdone it a bit i think, this is the secret with watercolour, never overdo it - you will loose the spontaneity, which watercolour is all about.
'Wheat Fields in full Sun: Co, Wicklow'
This is a painting i did around the same as the other above. I loved painting this one. The sun shining on the fields was really spectacular. The sun really blazed on the fields at the brow of the hill. It was contrasted by the dark sky..(which should have been painted darker) which was just the moment to get my sketchbook at the ready. I have my knapsack in the car: ready for the moment. I was happy enough with this painting. I hope to eventually make a oil painting out of it. The foreground van gives a sense of movement and openness.
This is a watercolour i did a short while back. With all my images - i love to show a dept of reality in my subjects, here is no exception. I love the water and the ‘wet into wet’ approach. I did this sketch…that’s all it really is - on a pretty sunny afternoon on my portable easel…my knees! It’s a great way to paint, fast and no fuss. When a subject confronts you - you must take full advan.tage and time wasting is not my forte. The dark back round was vital to show the highlights of the boats and there shapes, also the colour of the water.
'Trawler been painted in dry dock'
This sketch is from the same area, but it’s a trawler on a mobile boat crane. The men were hard at work painting and priming the whole hull and base of the boat. I had to capture it on paper. What attracted me was the red colour of the trawler. The new paint was so vivid and sharp in the sunlight, it was just right timing. The crane framed the whole design of the painting i think. I felt i had to put in the van, as this represented the workmen. I’m sure it’s blocking the view of the scene, but, also it adds a reality of life.
