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
~~~
This large work is having a powerful effect
In size alone it has a kick !
194 x 253cm
Here it is with lovely Seamus Quinn, who stretched and framed it.
He had to do the work at the Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny, as his framing shop (which is just across the road) wasn’t big enough
Here’s a view of it being worked on a couple of days earlier
And here it is taking up all the floor space in my sitting room before I rolled it up to take it to Seamus to be stretched
Here are 2 of my recent large works
The top one is ‘Evening walk, Cruit’
110 x 160cm
The bottom one is ‘Ruined gables, facing West’ , 120 x 160cm
They were both painted during the same short period of a few weeks, about 4 or 5 months ago, in Winter.
They were both inspired by, and had their starting point in an evening walk at sunset, with the Western light, on the tracks around our home on Cruit
They are both unusual for me as they were mostly painted using brushes. And also the paint mixture was more liquid and had a higher proportion of oil, so the surface us more glossy than usual
Both have some strong diagonal marks as central structures to the composition.
The top piece is more balanced, with a fairly traditional compositional structure, with the mountain and horizon quite central.
The lower piece has a distorted, unbalanced structure, with a weird sloping section to the horizon on the left, and strong diagonal marks ambiguously reaching down from the pyramidal forms into the foreground
The brush marks were applied very quickly in both works. And there are dribbles and splashes
The colours in the top piece are warm and strong, but mostly complimentary and /or harmonious. Whereas the colour in the lower piece are strong and sometimes clashing, even bilious.
For me the results are very different. The top painting is comfortable, even comforting. The lower piece is unsettling, maybe anxious making.
I have never analyzed my work like this before. I almost never write any sort of artist statement. I would be very interested to hear what other people might think. About these paintings. Or about me writing about my own work. No holds barred! Please be honest. A diogue would be great. Thanks
‘Evening walk, Cruit Island’
100 x 155cm
I’m thinking about what will hang where
Which paintings complement each other
Thinking that ‘less is more’ but also how many or how few
‘Donegal’ Pair (now framed), one is 80 x 100, second is 80cm sq
Should they go in the same room
What’s the lighting like
‘Ruined Gables, Night Painting’
98 x 150cm
And what about the Ceide Fields pieces? (100 x 80 and 80cm sq). And there’s another of these there already
And there should be some smaller ones too (‘Its Orange Outside’, pair, framed now, 50cm sq)
But of course its not up to me anyway!
On tenterhooks waiting for a studio visit from the curator
Solo show at Green Fuse Gallery, Westport, County Mayo. 29th April to 10th June
Maybe the new red/turquoise one would be better as 2 square pieces like this:
Left
Right
Would be interested to know what people think
In progress ‘rock in the sea 3’
100 x 200cm – as I left it just now
Stage 2 of rock on the sea 3
Stage 1 of rock in the sea 3 – marked out the rick in graphite stick and oil and cold wax medium ( before covering over completely – first in red then turquoise)
Blue: 100 x 160cm
Yellow: 100x 200cm
Some golden paintings from the last few months
Skylight 2 on panel 90cm sq
Skylight 1 on panel 90cm sq
Gold hills, diptych, 2 panels each 80cm sq
Some at home
Some at the Doorway Gallery Dublin
donegallizdoyle 