"Eye of the Leopard" - Oil Painting

Oil on gessoboard (10×8 inches)

I love painting eyes and really enjoyed painting this gorgeous leopard’s eye.

The leopard (Panthera pardus) has relatively short legs and a long body with a large skull. It is similar in appearance to the jaguar, although it is of smaller and slighter build.

Its fur is marked with similar rosettes to those of the jaguar, though the leopard’s rosettes are smaller and more densely packed, and the leopard’s rosettes do not usually have central spots as the jaguar’s do.

The species’ success in the wild owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behavior, its adaptability to habitats, its ability to run at speeds approaching 58 kilometres per hour (36 mph), its unequaled ability to climb trees even when carrying a heavy carcass, and its notorious ability for stealth.

Leopards may sometimes be confused with two other large spotted cats, the cheetah and the jaguar. However, the patterns of spots in each are different: the cheetah has simple spots, evenly spread; the jaguar has small spots inside the polygonal rosettes; while the leopard normally has rounder, smaller rosettes than those of the jaguar.

The leopard is larger and much more muscular than the cheetah, but slightly smaller and more lightly built than the jaguar. The leopard’s rosettes are circular in East Africa but tend to be squarer in southern Africa.

The leopard is known for its ability in climbing, and it has been observed resting on tree branches during the day, dragging its kills up trees and hanging them there, and descending from trees headfirst. (wiki)

Art is for Everyone exhibition

On Thursday, 18th February, we had our second "Art is for Everyone" exhibition at the Kilrush Library, County Clare, Ireland.

There were 83 oil paintings by 25 artists of County Clare and they were all incredibly beautiful. The paintings were done on courses during 2009 and some of them were the first paintings ever done by my wonderful students!!!

We raised a substantial amount (980euro) for the Kilrush Lifeboat Station by raffle and had six great prizes. Congratulations to everyone who won a prize and our thanks to everyone who supported our exhibition and the raffle. The Kilrush Lifeboat Station is an incredible organisation and responsible for saving many, many lives!

Over the last few days, I have been trying to create a little 'video' of photographs taken during the 2009 and 2010 "Art is for Everyone" exhibitions and posted it to Youtube. So, this is just a little sample of photographs of the exhibitions and you can see some of the wonderful paintings in the background.

My thanks to all my friends and to everyone who braved a chilly evening. We had approximately 100 to 110 guests at the opening night! Our sponsors provided delicious wines, cheeses and other refreshments and we really appreciate their support. (They do not want to be mentioned by name but at the end of the video, credit is given to everyone who is too shy to be mentioned!

So, I hope you enjoy my first attempt to use Youtube!!

"Fanore Beach - County Clare" - oil painting

Oils on canvas 50x70cm. 

A beautiful beach and a beautiful day in Ireland! Fanore (Fán Óir, "the golden slope", in Irish) is a small village in County Clare on the west coast of Ireland.  

Lying on the road between Ballyvaughan and Doolin, Fanore is renowned for its extensive sandy beach.  

The village is very popular with walkers, surfers, tourists and is particularly interesting to botanists, owing to its location on the edge of the Burren – renowned for its unique flora and fauna. 

It has a pub, a post office/shop, and a restaurant, as well as a surfing school near the beach. Fanore has appeared many times on Irish television: in particular, the Father Ted series often featured scenes filmed in Fanore and its surrounding villages. (wiki)