March has almost marched by...Winter is still here.

It's almost the end of March! Spring is not here yet either... ...we have had sleet and snow all day today, and more of the same forecast for the next week. I was to go fishing today, but decided I'm not that stupid and stayed at home instead, only venturing out as far as the post-office and my studio. I am glad to say the heating in my studio is working well...

My paintings are going slowly, but they are getting to where I wish them to go. The drying process is very slow with the conditions we have, the studio door needs to be opened to allow a good airflow for the oxidization of the oils to take place. With all these cold spells air temperatures are not high enough to leave the door open yet. Consequently drying is very slow.
This has a knock-on effect on the work, as reworking and continuing with paintings has to wait until the previous work done is dry. I am working on some of the ideas from our trip to Connemara at the moment. At the moment it seems a long while ago, not less than two weeks, but I have been rather busy since. I am still in the process of trying to organise two or three events, which means I am trying to contact and arrange meetings two or three days a week for one thing or another in between working in the studio.

It's mid March already, St.Patricks Day has gone...

Iam just back from a week in Connemara. Doing a little painting en Plien air, and generally having some rest and recuperation. I have had a few more breathing problems/ asthma attacks and consequently I have not been posting or painting much. The situation is still not fully under control, I am surviving on steroids still but hopefully the consultant is now on top of the problem. Connemara was beautiful, we stayed in the Abbey Glen Castle Hotel in Clifden, see the photos, room, view and castle.

We spent some time in Carna and driving around taking photos and painting plein air all the way around Cashel bay, towards Recess and Glinsk. We drove to Lough Inagh one evening to eat, but the Lodge was not open yet, it was too early in the season, which was a pity as the food is beautiful there. However the food in Ballinahinch Castle was good and excellent in the Abbey Glen, so we did not starve....

Now I'm going to have to get stuck in and do some painting.

PS. the Helicopter is not mine, I drove the car.

Slow work...slow progress

I'm still affected by my breathing problems and work is not a priority at the moment. I did manage to do more work though, this is one of the new pieces, but I'm not 100% happy with it, I'll leave it aside in the meantime and continue working on another one before revisiting it later. I know I need to rework the fish's tail fin to try to make it less solid looking, when I do that it may make a large difference to the work, but I still feel it looks unbalanced and will need more work in the background.

I will update as I continue.