-
SOLD OUT!Oil on board 25cm x 20cm In slip frame ready to hang Spinning out to the beach – straight from the studio – is one of my greatest pleasures. In under an hour I can be in the sea – it is nothing short of glorious. And there are two pristine beaches to choose from. This painting is a throwback to a lovely evening on the beach earlier this Summer and a lovely reminder of that sunny state of mind – regardless of the weather. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on Canvas 61cm x 46cm In slip frame ready to hang This painting might appear a bit maverick in this collection but, as with them all, was painted in response to a time and place. In this case. The time being a VERY hot day in my studio. It began life as a demo (for my Abstracting the Landscape Online painting course) but as the layers progressed I realised it was harking back to a recent landscape I had visited. ‘Heatwave’ was painted at the tail end of the collection and the beginning of my next body of work, so it literally is the shape of things to come. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 50cm x 40cm In slip frame, ready to hang. €845.00 -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 50cm x 40cm In slip frame, ready to hang. €845.00 -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 120cm x 120cm In slip frame, ready to hang. At a young(-er!) and (more!) impressionable age, I read May Sarton's A Journal of a Solitude. I remember being floored by the line 'Hope, but for what?'. The lack of hope or vision or joie de vivre struck me as utterly sad and terrifying too. I have known the feelings of being rudderless and at times been terribly lost. I think that is part of the human experience. Many of us anticipated the recent Covid quiet period with dread - it smacked of 'the end is nigh' and yet on the other side of it, many of us feel renewed and are facing forwards with some hope. And we are certain what we are hoping for. On the other side of solitude, I think the things we are hoping and hopeful for are not 'things' - there is a communion in that too. It reminds me of the words of another great writer, Mary Oliver:'Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
The world offers itself to your imagination
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place in the family of things.
-
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 124cm x 112cm In slip frame, ready to hang. SOLD You have to keep your wits about you in the sea. Sinking or swimming are ultimate options. As a very recent - and occasional - sea swimmer, I love the immediacy of immersion. It's impossible to feel wishy washy about the sensations. 0.5 seconds after immersion you are fully alive - senses accelerated, at absoute optimum. Although I am in possession of a rambly mind - and prone to projecting forwards or harking backwards, I am a fan of being in in the moment. Sea swimming helps me be 'all in' and be fully alive one moment at a time. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 90cm x 90cm In slip frame, ready to hang. €2950.00 Silver Strand on Sherkin Island has a dreamy quality - it is a time and place. And it is time out of time. 'Holding On & Letting Go' is a theme that flows through my work. Inspiration is a feeling - sometimes fleeting - and sensations like how I felt at sunrise on Silver Strand are often like water in my hands. I hope this painting goes some way to capturing all of that. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 60cm x 60cm In slip frame, ready to hang. €1250.00 A meditation on solitude and connection. A wise man - Michael Kirby - who has been a great influence on my work, showed us that everything that lives is connected. While I'm more than fine being alone, the quiet time of lockdown reminded me how my inner life is nourished by my time out in the world. I am richer for connection, community and having a sense of place in the world - all of that helps me feel at home in myself! -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 90cm x 60cm In slip frame, ready to hang. €1950.00 Post the first COVID lockdown I took time out to spend a weekend on a yoga retreat Sherkin Island. It was my maiden voyage - I now know what I missed. It is glorious - idyllic, super lush in Summer time and so close to Shore. Going against all my usual holiday pre-requisites, we did yoga at sunrise on Silver Strand. It was cold and damp but just as the sun came up - the sun slid across the sand (giving a full explanation to it's name!) and it was the most glorious setting I have known. Immediately afterwards we swam in the sea. Had you asked me to partake in such a dawn excursion pre-Covid, I would have excused myself impolitely! And yet - it was wonderful - an absolute Silver Lining. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 36cm x 47cm In slip frame, ready to hang. €745.00 It is said there are no lines in nature - and yet - the tide lines on the shoreline mark the sea's inhalations and exhalations. If ever I need to settle my mind, I take it down to the sea where the tides eases my freeflow and scattered thoughts - soon my breath keeps time with the tide and my thoughts harmonize - or dissipate. Perhaps it is more true to say there are no straight lines in nature - as in life. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 112cm x 112cm In slip frame, ready to hang. €4,450.00 Spike Island was once a remote monastery, a fortress and the world’s largest prison! 'The Idea of an Island' collection attempts to present the contrast of what is potentially an idyll and a place of pain and suffering. The palette in these paintings is itself a contrast – a mix from cheery pinks to a spectrum of blacks. ‘Fools Rush In’ was made during the Covid isolation and draws on the idyll of the sea – it’s spectacular beauty which can be so comforting – but also it’s inherent power and danger. One of the first things I did post-lockdown was to swim in the sea – it was freezing but full of freedom! ‘Fools Rush In’ I hope illustrates life’s contrasts – how nothing is ever completely lost or indeed perfect – but made up of a series of magnificent moments. The present happening over and over again. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 5ft x 5ft (152cm x 152cm) In slip frame, ready to hang.“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
- Anais Nin -
When I visited Spike Island, I was struck by how stunningly beautiful it is, how wild and yet how much grows there. It feels otherworldly - a strange edgy energy is pervasive. I couldn't help thinking about all the pilgrims, monks and prisoners who have passed through. The island's small surface area and it's situation make it impossible to forget you are on an island. I wondered were those temporary residents taunted by the lapping tide from the far shore. Many must have contemplated making a swim for it! It would require courage to leave and maybe another courage to stay. I think all of us in this quiet time have contemplated change - our personal precipice. For me making these big paintings is a personal jumping off point. When painting, I jot down notes - often a series of words - random ramblings and gems. For this Precipice - I noted:Resilience - Connectedness - Home - Belonging
I think all of us - pilgrims, prisoners and painters - maybe sing to the same tune. -
SOLD OUT!Oil & Cold Wax on Canvas 120cm x 100cm in slip frame ready to hang This painting was made in many, many layers. I started it in my early explorations of cold wax and returned to it - adding layers and experience - over years. The crosshatching motion of the work over time gave depth and seemed to embody the experience of the painting. It isn't specifically about any place but is something of a journey-man painting - as it takes the essence of my experiences over several artists' residences across choppy lakes and along moody shorelines. Although the palette is dark it is ultimately an uplifting piece - signaling home in the midst of a torrent. We are never forever, truly lost, we can always re calibrate, chart out course and navigate our way towards a sense of home. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 100cm x 70cm Ready to hang in slip frame I made this painting while on a painting fellowship at The Ballinglen Artists Foundation in Ballycastle, Co Mayo. Dun Bristé - or the stack - is a tiny landmass just off Downpatrick Head. It’s a sanctuary for birds now but legend has it that the chunk of rock broke away from the mainland when St Patrick struck the earth with his stick in response to a naysayer who doubted his Christian doctrine! Either way it is striking and I love to paint it! -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 125cm x 112cm This large painting happened immediately after I had taken a short holiday in Rosslare last Summer. It was such a lovely little holiday - I had spent most of my childhood Summers in Wexford - so doing the 'borough' beach walk every morning felt - in someways like re-enchanting a long, held connection. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 100cm x 70cm Ready to hang in slip frame -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 100cm x 70cm Ready to hang in slip frame This painting was inspired by a night walk along the shoreline. There is quite a bit of gold in this painting - a departure for me - that I think captures the otherworldliness of the sea at night-time. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 40" x 30" (i.e. 102cm x 76cm) Ready to hang in slip frame Valentia Island - as a location - had a pivotal and pioneering role in transatlantic communications. I find walking alone the shoreline and swimming very inspiring - it so often translates into my work. While I find abundance in the waves, it makes me think Marconi must have had a magic, marvelous mind to see so much potential beyond those waves. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 40" x 30" (i.e. 102cm x 76cm) Ready to hang in slip frame I am a fan of islands but despite having spent much of my painting time in Ciarraí, I have only recently started to document Valentia island. I love the sea-crossing - short as it is - and Bray Head, and the lapping water at ever side. I love too that you can go way, way high up and low down again into the sea. This is one of my first paintings from this place - it was made following a stormy Summers crossing. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 25cm x 25cm Ready to hang in slip frame Another painting made in many, many layers - often the smaller ones have that way about them. This painting was in itself an enchantment. I loved making it - as it seemed to form itself over many layers. It puts me in mind of salmon skies and Summer nights, striding homewards through high grasses not far from the sea. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 25cm x 25cm Ready to hang in slip frame This painting was made in many layers and took me on a bit of a journey. It was inspired by Bic Runga's song - of the same title - Everything is beautiful and new. Listen to it HERE. The song was inspired by Bic's first-time motherhood - the enchantment, fragility and wonder of the new. It's appropriate to any journey - that is challenging, a personal stretch but ultimately a happy song. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 40cm x 40cm Ready to hang in slip frame As an Irish landscape painter, I have great reverence towards (and am inspired by) our great history in the field. As islanders, the Sea is a constant theme in Irish art - we are steeped in it - literally and figuratively. It is very much a part of us. It is important to me to reference the Sean Nós (The Old Ways) while progressing my own work and I felt this painting went someway to creating an accommodation between both. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 40cm x 40cm Ready to hang in slip frame Some paintings make themselves. This ones was made on a painting fellowship at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation and seemed to bring my work onwards - in a sure way, forwards - towards new paintings I wanted to make. Which is just as well as the felt the path behind had fallen away. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 40cm x 40cm Ready to hang in slip frame Another of my happy places! This was painted in my studio but harks back to happy times close to the boglands in Ciarraí. It is, in recent years, a contentment to me to take inspiration out in the landscape before incorporating it into the rhythm of a studio schedule. For a long time, I felt perpetually on residency - out in some landscape or other, it was enchanting but often unsettling. Now a new studio rhythm feels an enhancement, an orderly way to tap into influences and mine memories. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 40cm x 40cm Ready to hang in slip frame There is a motion in the ocean that helps - I think - to move forwards out of 'stuckness' and onwards. The constancy of the sea and holding on and letting go are a constant theme for me. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 40cm x 40cm Ready to hang in slip frame This painting is another song of praise, an ode to the sea as it renews, invigorates and keeps us buoyant - leading us homewards. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 40cm x 40cm Ready to hang in slip frame Suaimhneas is the Irish word for tranquility or relaxation - to be at peace. In recent times it has come to be associated with mindfulness and being aware of ones surroundings. Eitherway, being tranquil or mindful - the sea is always a balm to me. **Now Available As A Limited Edition Print HERE** -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 40cm x 40cm Ready to hang in slip frame I was fortunate to walk some of the Camino de Santiago trail earlier this year. It was wonderful - lovely clear seascapes and plenty of sunny times. I think I brought back some of the blue with me as it magic-ed it's way into my work for some time afterwards. As did this determined figure - a pilgrim who seemed to forge forward in faith - sure of just rewards. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 45cm x 35cm Ready to hang in slip frame Oró, Oró was painted while on a painting fellowship at The Ballinglen Foundation in North Mayo. While walking along the shoreline in Ballycastle the tune deeply embedded in every Irish childhood psyche - 'Oró se do bheatha bhaile' - came free in my mind. It is traditionally a rallying call but always to my mind - conjured up the image of rowing across waves, homewards. It heralded (to me!) a new way of painting, that felt much like being on the crest of a wave with home in sight. -
SOLD OUT!Oil on canvas 45cm x 35cm Ready to hang in slip frame This collection has felt very much like a bunch of songs of praise to the shoreline and the magic, renewable energy of nature. This was painted after listening to Jack Lukeman's song - Magic Days & Magic Ways - a really lovely, hopeful tune - listen to it HERE.
Contemporary Irish Landscape Painting
