It’s incredibly remote, wild, wet and windy. But I am cosy in my cottage studio with a roaring fire in the stove and mugs of tea constantly on the go.
There are lovely friendly artists staying in the other cottages, so far I’ve made two new friends.
I will post some images of work in progress once I get properly started. Lots of painting ideas and maybe a few poems to write too.
Standing at the open window
Of the train rushing through new terrain
Listening to the rhythmic pounding
Of the wheels on the shiny rails
~
Yes, I will, I do, I can
I see, I make, with love
Yes, I choose, I go, I try
To fly. I make a leap
~
Choosing the forward momentum
Denying the steel bars
In that cold and hungry
Prison cell of fear
~
No, to halting fearful saying
You’ve had your fill. It’s too late
No, to thinking it can’t work out
You’re too old, just be still
~
Even the old goose still makes
The journey South
She doesn’t wait
To grace your Christmas plate
~~~
As we wind down to the end of this year I am starting to review my works, and think about shows and placements for next year
These two in the image above were part of a large series of about 20 paintings, still ongoing, called ‘Who’s Watching’
It’s still possible that some of them might end up in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York, as it was Mark of Mark Borghi Fine Art who encouraged me to make these large paintings, and had originally asked for them for his gallery for March this year, but with the ongoing difficulties with the Covid pandemic, that still hasn’t happened
They might go to Hambly&Hambly for a solo show in 2022, but again, I haven’t got dates for that either.
I have an art residency at CillRialaig in County Kerry starting on 8th January and another residency at Tyrone Guthrie in County Monaghan in June
I thought I would bring together some of my large works from the last few years, here in a post, and remind myself where they are now.
All these paintings are between 150 and 300cm long and up to 140cm deep. All were made on unstretched linen, stamped to my studio wall, then stretched afterwards, either here or at their destination after they were sold
This is ‘Tower’ just under 3m long. It was a huge challenge getting it out to its new home, by boat, onto a little island off Donegal
This is ‘Voyage’, about 100x190cm, shown at Mark Borghi Fine Art in New York, and placed with a client over there
Me with ‘Lugh’s Portal’ on the opening night of my show at MBFA last year. The painting is still there in their inventory
This is ‘Due West’ in my solo show of the same name two years ago at GreenFuse gallery in Westport. It’s home again now
2 new works on canvas in the studio today
Each 100x120cm
4 new works on linen
I think finally I’ve finished this large piece, about 4’x7′
At the same time as working on the big piece stapled to my wooden studio wall, I’ve also been making some small studies on birch panel. These 6, each only 12×16″
The large piece and the small ones are interconnected, both by my process (lifting areas of wet paint in tissue paper, from one work to another, in a type of printing), and also in subject. Although all the works are totally abstract, and as such have no actual subject or representational form, they all come from the idea and challenge that we all face, of the potential destruction of our beautiful environment. The shapes and forms, particularly in the small pieces, for me have echoes of sea and sky, rock and sand, light on water
3 new works on 70cm panels
‘Do you have a map?’ 1,2 & 3
Experimenting with the graphic effects of pouring paint
donegallizdoyle 