
My second oils painting. Normally, blackbirds look jet black but this fellow was in blinding sunlight that picked up subtle browns and blues.

My second oils painting. Normally, blackbirds look jet black but this fellow was in blinding sunlight that picked up subtle browns and blues.

This is my first oils painting, painted in January 2012. Took me a little while to get used to oils; their stiffness and the way they work with mediums was new.

The weather conditions were special this day because usually when the surfers are around it’s dull and cloudy but this was a rare day; windy and sunny.

A collaboration with a fellow artist on the website deviantART. He provided the reference photo on which this painting is based. It was important to get the reflection of welding light on the visor. The idea was to explore a different kind of light and its effects.

Now this was intense work! All fine detail from one side of the board to the other. A week into it, I had to do another painting because I knew I was in for a long haul and had to do something else to have a sense of completing something. I think it was worth it though.

Ballycotton pier and harbour is just 3 miles from where I live. Behind the pier are two islands, the taller one has a lighthouse which is the bright red light in the painting. The bright lights illuminating the pier were a satisfying contrast with the deep indigo of the sky. Indeed this is my favourite colour to depict a sky.

I had painted a few small sunset paintings and felt ready to do a much larger canvas when I did this. The sea took a lot of time and patience. Painted from 8th September to 18th October, 2011.

This lovely donkey lives in a sanctuary for donkeys in Liscarrol, Co. Cork.

Comes out in full bloom in the middle of June. Grows in hedges in Ireland. Sold.

I had done a similar painting and given it as a gift. My first exhibition was a few weeks away so I did another one for it. This one turned out a bit neater.