The River Dodder

I painted a study of the river Dodder at firhouse, close to home.



There are areas of the canvas unworked, but I like the effect, and I have decided to leave them as is.

It is a beautiful area of the river, the weir itself used to have a carrier from it years ago, but it hasn't been used for as long as I've known it.

I took the photo of the weir with my phone while I was there.

The river itself is a free-stone trout stream, which runs from the Dublin Mountains above Bohernabreena reservoirs, down through the reservoirs, through Tallaght, Firhouse, Rathfarnham, and further through the suburbs at Miltown, Clonskea, and Ballsbridge until finally it runs by Landsdown road and into the sea at the mouth of the liffey by Ringsend. There are wild brown trout throughout the river, a fact the local Angling club is justly proud of, as they have protected the ecosystem for the last 50 years. The angling club have fought against pollution, culverting, piping underground of small spawning streams, and generally have protected and cleaned the river while in most other major cities the river systems and fishing has been destroyed.