My new look website is operational

I have re-launched my website.  It was in need of updating, and had been in situ for 10 years in it's current format.  I have my suspicions that the amount of java that was in the template I had been using was detrimental to the ease of use with smartphones too, but I can't complain it served me well for the decade at a cost of about $60 when I bought the license to use it.  

I decided to keep the new (improved, I hope) site simple.  It is just a basic html and css setup with little to download other than the images to facilitate smart phone accessibility.  Hopefully it will bring a level of sales similar to the old site when  I was actually updating it.  I'd messed up my shopping cart for about the last two years without realising it by changing my email address and forgetting to update the paypal shopping cart- even though the new email is on the same account the paypal cart was only operating - or not operating as the case was- on the now defunct email.
Thankfully a buyer contacted me to let me know there was a problem, hence the rush to update without fully testing.  I still need to finish off my alt tags and keywords etc. but the site is fully operational (as far as I know until someone actually buys from it again ;)) I added a link to here on the site to add to the functionality.

Springtime, and the painting is Plein air...

 Four Plein air knife paintings on 10 by 8 inch panels.

 

Glenasmole and the Dublin City Golf Club, from Bohernabreena

 

Howth head and Dublin City from Bohernabreena

 

 

The Upper Liffey Valley Manor Kilbride

 

 

The Upper Liffey Valley Manor Kilbride

Springtime has arrived...  at least for now, we have had a couple of warm sunny days.  The 17th of the month was almost balmy, and I put the warmth to good use by doing some plein air studies down the road, and in Wicklow.   It was great to be able to go out and work after the winter, and I am considering setting off back to the Liffey Valley in the morning if the weather holds for tomorrow.  There is a view I want to work on in a larger format.  It will need a lot more detail than these four did, and will probably take a couple of plein air trips before I come back to the studio to finish it.  The latter two images will help me recall the co,lours and conditions when working on the proposed larger work.
The light had softened by the time I got to Kilbride, the fields looking greener and the trees turned more grey than brown on the shaded side of the mountain.  But looking east from Bohernabreena the sunshine  had the trees looking much brighter and brown, yet the golf club in the first painting also showed signs of a cool light in the shaded greens and fairways of the course.  The fresh greens of new growth in the grass fields has a deep green and silver look at this time of the year.  Later on in the year the greens will become much warmer, even in the shade.  The fresh shoots of the grass give an almost magical light in the early spring sunshine, much more silvery than the early growth of the leaves in the trees and hedges later on in the spring which seem to just warm the browns and greys of the twigs before really turning green. 

Another blue period...

I have been painting some works based on my plien air paintings from Derrynane in Kerry.  I will post them here before my trip to Nice next week.  It seems so long since I was there in March, and our Paris/Giverny trip last month!  Back to the paintings though, rather than my gallivanting, they have turned out rather blue.  It's not surprising as they are three seascapes, with mostly sea on the canvas.

 

 

 

The three images are a little bright, but the photography was done under less than ideal conditions.  However if I didn't take them this morning, I wouldn't have any images to upload to this post, and it's unlikely I'll get time before I go.

 

I think the three of them need a little more work, particularly the foreground on the third image, though where the green in the photo came from, I don't know!  If it photographs that green, it definitely needs another look on the canvas, although it doesn't look too bad in the first image.  I must take the next photos with my fuji camera rather than the Nikon, it may be that the polarising lens is altering the colours, and the bright sunlight wasn't helping.

 

As for the blue, looking back at my images from my Plein air trip... the Kerry ocean was very blue in the sunshine. 

 

 

Glenmacnass, Wicklow.

I have just finished (well almost) my last commission for Christmas. It is a view of Glenmacnass in Co. Wicklow, 1 meter square.

I have one or two little touches I wish to do, but in the main it is finished now.

I have photographed it along the way so you can see the work in progression, from the original sketch/design to the finished piece.

This is the Graphite sketch I worked from, giving me my composition and design.

The next stage was drawing and blocking in on the canvas with thin washes of oil paint.

followed swiftly by blocking in my base colours before rechecking my composition against reference photographs. Sadly it is too wintry to try to work on site at this time of year.

This was followed by further blocking in and a little re-drawing, mainly in the area of the waterfall and the larch trees to the top left.

This is a continuation of the blocking in process in the foreground, and I have been adding texture around the midground areas.

This is followed by further detail being added throughout the painting and adding more definition to the blocks of colour.

From here I have begun to finish off areas of the painting, mainly around the mid ground and the road and hedgerow leading to the cottage. I have also added life to the cottage roof.

From this stage on I have increased the detail around the Larch trees, the right hand hill and the cliff-face again. I have painted in the Birch tree over on the right hand side of the painting.

This is what unifies the whole of the right hand side of the work. The fine, strong branches, and the blockier twig areas binding the foreground to the background and a the same time taking the hard edge of the scree slope on the right and breaking it up, this is also helped by the green gorse bush growing out of it. I have started to bring the reds in by painting the fence in, with a rusty brown.

This final stage is where it has all come together. The repainting of the tree in the foreground. This has now been darkened and warmed up, and details such as the small branches added to break up the straight line again. The wire fence has been painted again, to reduce the red slightly as more purples, pinks and reds have been added to the tree itself making it a warmer grey than in the previous image, which has also brought the tree forward from the background cliff-face and the mid ground landscape.

Now the painting is finished as such the whole atmosphere has changed, and it reminds me of the weather we had the day I went up and took my reference photographs for the work.

I have managed to get light in the painting even though there was no sunlight to create highlights and shadows, and yet the work has the feel of a damp overcast November day.

Rambling, rather than working...

I am still very busy with non-art work, but with one week to go to my studio sale (sat 16th @ Village framing in Rathfarnham) I need to get everything ready for moving. I want to pull a few more prints too, just so I have a few lower priced items available. Don't forget offers are accepted for any work up on my website this week... The studio sale is intended to raise some funds towards my International fishing duties as much as to empty some excess work from my studio. Representing the country proves quite expensive due to a serious lack of support from the national sporting bodies as anglers don't have official coaching staff, with a recognised coaching qualification... ... how do you manage to do that! At our level the main areas to coach such as casting techniques and reading water are automatic. A lot of our (well mine anyway) success is due to the un-explainable, much less the un-teachable, a sort of sixth sense, a combination of thinking like a fish and observation, and an ability to spot small almost imperceptible movement below the water and in the wave patterns. Not so much the fish I catch, but seeing how many I am getting to look at my flies but not catching that tells me I need to alter something. Again the something to alter is usually instinct, or if not, then a process of elimination, starting with what I think is the most likely problem. No coach can do the thinking for me.
Rant over.... I have an American Artist and his wife coming to visit later in the month, we will be taking part in Art in the open, in Wexford at the end of the month. This will be a chance for me to do some plein air work, (or should I say push me to do some) before my trip to Starry Night in New Mexico next spring.
..... I do seem to do a lot of travelling for an impoverished artist... ...imagine how much I'd do if I won the Lotto..

final work on the Carna Bay painting

Here is the promised photograph of the finished Carna Bay painting.

I am happy with the effect.

It will go on exhibition before Christmas, hopefully it won't be coming back home.

I'm off back to my studio now, I've to finish another one or two works this coming week. All the exhibition catalogue notices for the pre Christmas shows are starting to arrive and the deadlines are from only two weeks away. The reason I have just photographed this one is to send a Jpeg image for a catalogue inclusion. I find if you are including a colour photograph of a work it is always better to use the smallest work as it is less likely to be missed amongst larger pieces.

Cashel Bay, Connemara, Re-worked:

I reworked the painting from
April 2nd's post.

I replaced the lobster pots with nets. These are depicted with some orange and onion netting, glued down and painted on and over.
I also reworked some other areas of the painting, particularly the foreground area which I warmed up to increase the depth of the landscape.

The 3D effect of the scrap netting is interesting in itself. I managed to set the bright colours back with judicous use of paint. while still allowing the colour to come through, while the painterly effect on the plastic bouys still allows them to sit in the foreground while appearing to be three dimensional alongside the netting.

Update on my lino cut prints.

I finished the second ex-libris lino-cut, the one on the right obviously since I already posted the first one. I have sent them off to the Museum in Serbia, and now I can get back to my painting again.

I am still working on fish.. mainly sea bream, but I am nearly reaching the end of my journey with them. I may just finish off the works in progress and move on to something else.

If the weather improves I am still hoping to get some landscapes painted en-plien-air, to re-work over the winter. However this is less and less likely due to the inclement weather we have been having. This last month was the wettest August yet. We have had between 150% (east) and 250% (west) of normal August rainfall this year. Hopefully we may get an indian summer and a dry warm September so I can get out and about.

Of fish....

I have been busy with a painting of sea bream over the last while. I am still not happy with it but I will continue with it though, because I know the painting will get there eventually. I had started with the Bream looking like bream (on a plate). Obviously this wasn't going to work since the fish do look different in water, and light reflects differently.

I then reworked them and at this stage I have over-painted the fish four times, each time altering the balance between the fish as they are, and how they need to be for the painting.






Top, Sea-bream, unfinished


middle, Sea-bream, finished study.


bottom, Goldfish fry in my pond.







And speaking of fish, the fry in the pond are coming on in leaps and bounds. Today the fish are spawning again for the fourth time that I know of. I have at least three stages of fry in the pond at the moment. You will see two or three different sized fist in this photo of them, and there are more tiny pin-fry evident to the eye (less than a quarter of an inch, .5 cm)

The older fry are almost an inch long now and are happily shoaling in the pond, and ignoring the adults presence so I assume they are now of a size that makes them safe from predation.

It has been a while since I last posted here on my blog. Mainly because I haven't really had much to say about my work. I am still working away, not really getting to grips with anything. I am at a cul-de-sac with my ExLibris ideas. My painting is not coming along as I wish either, mainly because my mind is more on the printwork than on the painting.

I spent the morning retrieving small goldfish fry from my pond and putting them in nursery tanks.... anything to avoid work. Now I am here typing a post on my blog. I have already cleaned and scraped the build-up of paint on my palette, reloaded it with fresh paint, added oil etc, it is ready to go.........

....but I am not.

My studio is in danger of getting a thorough spring clean at this stage........[shock-horror]

I think I may take the rest of the day off. I am likely to do little or nothing anyway. It is hot, heavy and thundery with regular heavy showers which doesn't help either. I will leave you with a photo of the latest finished work from the Maltese series. Oil on canvas, 90cm by 70 cm.

May is around the corner...

The end of another month.  It has flown by again.  I have been quite busy in the studio overall and work has progressed well.  I will be away for half of May between my trip to Spain and my upcoming ten day fishing break. This will mean I won't get much chance to complete any more paintings as I'll need to look after other aspects of business before after and between trips. Consequently I probably won't post here much next month either.  You will know why though....

In the meantime I'll leave you with another painting,  oil on canvas, 19 by  22 cm.

Sea-Bass.

Work on the Malta series.

The work has gone quite well today. I have photographed four of the pieces (badly, LOL) but there is a reflection on them from the lights, as I had long lost daylight by the time I was thinking about photographing them.

The first is of a castle called the Redtower, and it is actually that pink in colour.

The second is a view of a typical Maltese hill with patchwork fields in the foreground.


The third is based on sketches of a terrace hillside, seen from below.

The last of the four is a view of a bay on the North coast of Gozo. The headland has a distinctly shaped hill which creates a dramatic statement.

All are still works in progress, but I am happy with the way they are progressing.

Irish landscape paintings

I am still working away in the studio. I am hoping to finish the commissions next week which will give me more time to start on some landscapes. I am determined to paint a few irish landscapes this year, and hopefully I can build up enough to organise a show. The few I do manage to paint tend to sell in the meantime.

It is surprising how hard it can be to do something that simple!!!
Oh well, c'est la vie.

Just a small update..

I am still working on more pond paintings, with the humid thundery weather of the last few days the oil paint has been slow to dry. It still surprises me at how dependent on the weather conditions drying time can be even while using drying mediums. I still need to do more work in the studio too, I have not finished my re-organising yet.
I will be doing some plein air landscapes shortly, at least if the weather is amenable I will. I am hoping to get a few days here and there around the country so I have some varied Irish landscapes to hopefully organise a show in the US in a while. I haven't had a US show in a couple of years, but at the same time I have not really had that many Irish landscapes "in stock" in a few years to organise a show featuring landscapes of Ireland.
I have been meaning to get enough together for quite a while...the world is paved with good intentions....and I just haven't been in the mindset to do it.

I have set up a page on Facebook this week, mainly to keep in contact with family members abroad, but feel free to look me up...:)

Finn Eces (Finnegas) Salmon of Knowledge, final stages.

Here is the finished painting of Finn Eces' salmon. I added two more hazelnuts, mainly to help break the horizontal across the back of the painting. I had considered putting the nine nuts the salmon was said to have eaten in the myth but I don't really see a need to be a slave to the legend.


I am considering doing a series based on the Irish legends and have started another work, the hound of Culainn the Blacksmith, reputed to have been slain by the boy Setanta, thereafter known as Cuchulainn.

bradán feasa, a painting and searching for the inspiration....

I have not posted in a while, I have been busy both with an exhibition and also re-evaluating my art. I feel I have to move forward with my painting. I have not been totally happy with my work recently, it is/was in a rut. I have decided to move from my normal representational work further into a more stylised conceptual way of painting. I may even move more into semi-abstract works if the fancy takes me.



I suppose I am overdue a change, I have been working on a painting, based on my lino print of the salmon of knowledge, Bradán feasa in the Irish language.

Here are some photographs of the work in progress, although it needs to progress quite a bit further yet.




















the first stage, drawn in charcoal and fixed. The hazelnuts have been painted green.










a base colour in position



further work, mainly on the salmon, note the repositioning of the Newgrange passage tomb to below the hill-line








the present stage of the work


















detail of the salmon





I will give an update later in the week, after I do a bit more to the painting.

Incidently, it is acrylic on canvas, 24 by 20 inches.





The painting has an accumulation of themes, the salmon is said to have gained it's knowledge from the hazelnuts that grew on trees around the magical spring from where the rivers of Ireland grew, hence the contorted hazel trees and hazel nuts. The Salmon was caught in the river Boyne, which runs through the valley at Newgrange, two more elements of the work. In the clouds and river, the swirls of the contorted hazel are echoed, also encompassing the spiral decoration from pre-christian celtic art found on the stones at Newgrange. All of which combine to create a history of the salmon of knowledge while the dissapearing river leaves us seeking knowledge of where it is going.

More paintings..

I have been working away yesterday and today, I also picked up some more supplies this morning. The work is going well, but I am not sure I really want to continue with it. My lack of colour in them is making me uneasy. They are of the western loughs, irish landscapes with lots of water and quite atmospheric, but not my usual work.

I will evaluate some of it over the next few days, and decide if it is worth continuing with.

Another week over, and a busy one ahead..

Another week has passed.
I have done some painting,.... but not a great deal.
I am fishing competitions again tomorrow and Sunday, so none will be finished this weekend.

I need to finish a few for the end of the month, but I have to get a few other jobs done also. I am due to fly into London for a day next week too. At this stage I am glad I didn't go to Montenegro for the Art festival/residency this month. It is something to look forward to for next year anyway. (I have been asked to go next year...)
I need to get some more paint and canvas this month, supplies are not low, they are almost non-existent. I will get into town as soon as I have the work ready for the upcoming show.
Don't expect too many posts this month, it's not likely to happen unless work progresses greatly.

More travelling stories...

I am back from my travels again. I have done a bit of fishing, and made quite a few studies in Co. Mayo. I think they may make a nice little series of paintings. I am considering working a little more abstract with them too.

I have done very little painting apart from these studies recently, and I need to organise a show for the end of June.
I have not heard back from the organisers of the Montenegran festival regarding availability of transfers from Dubrovnik airport so I will not go this year. It is too late to try to book flights now, the festival is due to start in two weeks. I hope to go next year instead, assuming that they may be a little more organised. I have plenty to be going on with at the moment anyway.

I will try to keep up to date with the Blog a little more too. I tends to be difficult when I am away so much though.

Two recent Irish landscape paintings.

Here are two recent works, the first is a view of Connemara. Acrylic on canvas, 18 by 14 inches.

The dry dead foliage gives the landscape a warm feel with any sunshine. The light picks up the reds and ochres of the dormant foliage, while the pools of water amongst the bog sparkle with light. The reflections in the puddles and pools give a contrasing coolness to the warmth of the landscape.



More details of the paintings can be found on my website .
The second painting is an oil on canvas, of the same dimensions and is a painting of Lough Carra in County Mayo. I like the oil painting particularly, as it gives the feeling of calm that this particular lough gives. Lough Carra is the smallest of the western lakes at 4000 acres. It is an intricate Lough with many bays and points. A clear lake it is the safest of the western lakes, and rarely gets the rough waves the others can experience. The light limestone marl gives the shorelines the characteristic 'white' shallows, dropping off into deep dark water. It is along these edges the best of the trout fishing is found. This second painting is also on my website and is available to buy direct.