The Storm After The Calm

The Storm after the Calm charts my explorations in oil and cold wax.
Typically, I work in response to particular locations and / or residencies but this collection is more ‘home grown’ – more of what can be termed ‘the internal landscape’ .

Much of life, I think is – and can be termed – ‘holding on and letting go’. This collection focused on the latter. It’s about that time in life when you’re poodling along, thinking you’ve got the hang of it, when you kind of loose the map and need to re-calibrate. This doesn’t necessitate cause for concern, it is merely ‘process’ – finding a new way of mapping and.. painting. I am the better for it.

The Big Sky Collection

The Big Sky is a collection of paintings made while getting to know areas of North Mayo, Sligo and The Burren – parts of Ireland that I hadn’t previously explored. The paintings, I hope, document that fresh take on new, ancient places. It took a while to create an appropriate response to these places – some felt like taking big, deep breathes, others felt like deep exhalations. Many of them felt like whispers of a new looser language. Regardless they were all made with love and are full of feeling – new sensations.

Mexican Odyssey

When I first relocated to Ireland (following 15 years overseas), I found myself instinctively painting landscapes. I had been making conceptual art in London and it felt a bit ‘obvious’ to be making them so I went to the desert to take a good look at a different landscape.

These paintings were made in a tent in the Baja Desert – using only primary colours and found objects. They were a pure pleasure to make. It was a turning point in my work as it helped me to respond more directly to landscape and  to think more expansively about the genre.

Ballads to the Bog – Kerry

Made in response to the prose and poetry of Michael Kirby during a residency at the Cill Rialaig Artists’ Retreat in Ballinskelligs (Kirby’s native place). The original purpose of the residency was to paint the sea but en route I passed a bog at Emloughmore and fell hard for it! And there I painted for the the entirety of my stay.

I love the colours and textures of our native bogs. I love too that they are a living, breathing thing – steeped in history and a natural source of abundance. I am enormously influenced by Michael Kirby. I truly believe him to have been one of our nations greatest ‘teachers’, ‘see-ers’ and indeed ‘do-ers’! So it was an honour to respond to his work.

Land of Plenty

Created in response to the economic downturn, this collection brings together some of my abstracted landscapes from Ireland. Land of Plenty is a celebration of the beauty and abundance of our land in spite of economic adversity. It was a great time of exploration and an opportunity to create bigger paintings.

This is the Sea

This is the Sea brought together a collection of my abstracted landscape paintings inspired by the Irish Coastline. I had been studying our island coastline, particularly areas along my native South East and the Cork – Kerry coastline since returning to live in Ireland in 2008.  It was a great way to navigate myself back into Ireland and to feel ‘at home’ at home.