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.

I have been working away quietly, trying a few things in small sizes. However I don't have much to show for it.
I am not particularly worried though, I think I may need to work through the ideas anyway.
It can be frustrating, but it is also rewarding.
I will be fishing competitions this weekend, and next so I will get a break from the work.

I have been working away from my lough Mask studies.

These are photos of three little acrylic paintings.


I am at the moment working on a larger oil painting. It is progressing quite well but I am not ready to photograph it yet.













I am hoping to get some more work done next week but I have a few things I must do before getting back to the painting.

Added to the list of things to do are prepare for two major fishing competitions next Sunday (8th) and the following Sunday (16th), two Club competitions to be organised and fished on the Saturday evenings of the 15th and 21st and I am going to be quite busy over the next few weeks. I also have a trip to London this month too.

I still have to organise frames for the end of the month, though my framer knows that they are wanted, and, to be honest he rarely does them before the last minute anyway!!

In the mean-time I hope to post a little more later in the week.

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.

Mayfly time again...

I have been busy for the last week. I am just back from the North today, and now I need to get organised for my annual weeks Mayfly fishing. Everything is booked, but I need to ensure I have enough flies tied, the outboard enging is well serviced and I have enough two-stroke oil to do the week. We are going to Lough Mask this year for a change. Lough Corrib was quite poor the last couple of years.
Meanwhile, I have to do a few design drafts tomorrow, so I can finish a design commission for Friday. I am still waiting to hear back from Montenegro, I cannot get direct flights into Montenegro and need to know if I can be collected from Croatia. Until I hear I can't book flights, so I think I will miss the festival for this year. I refuse to pay almost 1,000 euro for flights into Montenegro, via London and Paris........ I could take a month in the Algarve or in Africa with Christine for that price.

A great start to May

We have had a couple of great days weather-wise. It is about time spring/summer arrived!
Consequently I have spent the holiday weekend getting the garden in order. I attacked it with gusto, and I have gone a bit too far...with all the major changes to the layout and heavy pruning on the shrubbery it is going to be a weeks work to finish.
I don't expect to be painting much this week, unless a commission that can't wait comes in. I need to get some more canvases before I start work again, so I can take a break during the weeks gardening and go into town. I'm off now, I've got a skip to fill with garden waste.........

Back from Our travels

We are back from Nice and the Cote D'azur in the french riviera. We also visited Montecarlo in Monaco which is just a short bus ride up the coast from Nice. The coastal landscape is interesting, and as we were flying into Nice I had an amazing view of the coastline west of the airport itself as we approached the airport parallel to the shoreline. The Public bus service in the area is very reasonable, at 4 euro you can get the bus from the airport and unlimited use of local busses and trams for the day. Obviously we did a lot of our touring and sightseeing by bus and tram, it sure beats paying through the nose on our own public transport at home.

The bus to Montecarlo was only 2 euro for a return ticket. It is a nice trip along the coast too. I preferred Nice to Montecarlo, even though Montecarlo had some great specimens of the giant white strelitzia plants. It was amazing to see these bird-of-paradise flowers towering over the banana trees beside them. I had to look twice to check which were trees and which were strelitzias. There were many standard strelitzias flowering all over Nice and Montecarlo. Also Montecarlo was in the process of preparing for next months Grandprix motor race so there were barriers and viewing platforms being erected all over the place, which made it quite scruffy.

Sadly we did not have the time to visit all the sites immortalised by the impressionists in the area, nor to any of the art galleries in the area which include galleries devoted to Renoir, Matisse and Chagall among others.

I have just recieved an invitation from the Association of Fine Arts Belgrade-Serbia & Montenegro to an International Art festival in Montenegro. It is in mid June this year however and I am not sure I will be able to go. I need to check my diary dates, it is shortly after my weeks mayfly fishing over in the west. If I can't make it this year, hopefully I may be able to postpone until next year as I would love to go to Montenegro, situated on the Adriatic coast, with a warm meditereanean climate... There are a number of my artist friends and aquaintances among the twenty invited artists. The festival is just down the coast from other friends too.

Hopefully I may be able to adjust my schedule to fit it in. I know I have to cancel a major fishing competition, and another is the day before I need to go, but I may be able to fish that one.

I'm going to go now and start checking flights, diaries and everything else....

An Artist's work is never done...

I have not posted in a while, I have been very busy. I have sent the ex-libris lino prints off to Belgrade for the Biennale. I just sent these two.

One a basic lighthouse (the subject for the Biennale) in an art deco style.

The second is based on the Boyne valley and the salmon of knowledge, the story as explained here .

It includes an ogham stone (early celtic script) enscribed with 'libris' in the foreground, the salmon of knowledge, Newgrange passage tomb, and clouds in the style of Celtic pre christian stonework (spirals). Newgrange is a lighthouse in reverse, instead of lighting up the sky to direct ships, the solstice sunrise lights up the back of the tomb down the passage through a small window above the door. In effect lighting up the house of the dead.

I have been busy doing routine organisation of upcoming exhibition opportunities etc. also, plus I have had two angling competitions recently. They take up time too.

I hope to get some more actual painting done shortly, but I won't hold my breath, I have a lot of things happening at the moment all combining to make it difficult to get settled into a painting frame of mind. I have to ship another painting today. It takes a few hours to pack and post a painting, all of which takes time out from the studio. I have already spent two hours photographing work to send two images off to a gallery, it takes time to ensure accurate colours and shading, plus good sharp focus with no distortion of the painting.

At least the sun is shining in my windows, cheering up my day, but I have to sign off now, to update my fishing blog, and then back to work.