Painted this in two and a half weeks in December 2009. Used artistic licence in the clouds and the tower itself. The clouds are coloured more purple than reality, while the shaded stones are green; I thought they’d go nicely with the sky. Cloyne is a nearby village, with a history stretching back to the 6th century. Sold.
Painted this in November 2009. This castle is half a mile from my home. It’s a late Medieval tower house owned by the Carews, a local Anglo-Norman landowning family. People have been impressed by the realism of this piece.
I had noticed before I started painting this, that there is a fine contrast between street lighting and the twilight sky, between the yellow/orange glow and deep indigo of the sky. I was staying in Galway when I started on this, a fine town with an impressive cathedral. I like this painting a lot.
Painted this during the summer of 2009. I used blotches of various bright colours to give a dappled texture to the tree. I was meticulously imitating a small photo so it took some weeks to complete this. Carew’s Wood is a local garden centre.
I love how the northern sky retains a twilight glow long after the sun has set at this time of year. This how it looks around 11.30 pm.
I hadn’t painted for 6 months before I started this. I was determined to make a highly detailed painting as I was a little disappointed with the previous painting’s foreground. Based on a reference photo; the day I took it I wasn’t in the area, I was down by the prom walk in Garryvoe and noticed bales in the field on the higher ground. When I got there I found that they were in every field towards the sea. So I spent the next 6 months painting. The last 3 were spent on the foreground, doing those stubbles trying to depict the sunlight reflecting off of them. No compromise!
Following the abbey painting, I attempted to depict the round castle which dominates the skyline in Nenagh town. Like the abbey painting, I used vivid colours. I painstakingly did each stone. Consequently, this painting was in my life for a few months.
I was working on an archaeological dig not far from the Tipperary town of Nenagh when I painted this. I was returning to my rented house from home the Sunday I started this. I’d forgotten my blue paints. I was annoyed for a while, thinking I’d have to wait another week before I’d start. Then I had the idea of doing the painting without blue and, using the colours I had, came up with an unusual colour scheme. Every day after work, I’d spend a few hours at it in the evening. I was very pleased with the result.
This is the only time I’ve done a painting based on another one of my paintings. Following on from the painting of the two bales I did at night. I decided to do something more detailed. I’m not sure if it’s a better painting than the one I did in the open air. Certainly the experience of painting this wasn’t worth remembering!
On a Saturday night, 3rd March, 2007, I did a painting under a full moon outside in the field around my home. It was one of those exceptional painting experiences. The air was cold and damp so the paint didn’t dry quickly like acrylics normally do. So a streaky effect was the result. I spent over an hour at it. For my trouble I had a rotten cold the following week!
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