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!!

"O'Sullivans, Kilrush" - oil painting

Oils on canvas

One of the quaint, old family stores in Kilrush. Hardly anything has changed over the years and this shop is absolutely fascinating – a step back into time in Ireland.

The shopkeeper, Donal O’Sullivan kindly posed for me when I told him I would love to paint his shop. I rearranged some items for artistic purposes but the painting is very close to what this fascinating old shop looks like. A definite place to visit should you ever come to Kilrush!!

This painting was quite a challenge and I could probably still work on it for many more months perfecting every little detail – but I decided that I don’t want to go down the ‘photo realism’ path as that is just not my style.

Even if I do use a photograph as reference, I leave most of the last sections and finishing touches to my imagination. To me, a painting must still look like a painting so I decided that this one is done….

maybe :)

To see a larger image... click here

And...

Why I have been such a bad blogger...

Truth is, I have been a bit ill… and very worried too. I don’t exactly know how to say this as I did not want to explain but I decided perhaps I need to tell you why I have been away for so long…

Well… besides being busy with teaching and painting – which helped to keep me sane, I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in July last year and had to have several operations, etc, back and forth to hospital and needless to say, quite worried.

When you are suddenly confronted with the big ‘C’, you realise how short life can be. I am so thankful for my wonderful family and friends and through them all I was able to keep a positive attitude and the future is hopeful.

I was lucky in many ways… I have wonderful doctors and the medical staff are brilliant. It always takes some time to ‘get into the system’ but because of my caring GP, I got the diagnosis and operations necessary. Now, I can only hope and pray that this horrible, deadly cancer will not return.

I love the sun… most of my life was spent loving the sun and being outdoors. But the sun can be deadly and I can only ask that anyone who has ever ‘loved the sun’ PLEASE take care!! No tan is worth dying for!

To my friends who knew and supported me through this time… I can only say ‘thank you’... you will never know just how much it means to me.

Oils on canvas

The Kilrush Art Group meets every Friday evening at the community hall but on Friday 16 October the hall was being used for another function so our group made our way to the Life Boat Station in Cappa.

I wish I had my camera but as usual, its never with me for the most spectacular natural scenes. Purples, pinks, bright yellow and gorgeous blues greeted us as we arrived at the station. The water was like glass and Scattery Island a silhouette in the distance. The ancient round tower with only a part of the church ruins I have seen so many times!

So, today (Saturday) after an art class, I painted the scene from memory! I wish I had a photograph but sometimes memory is even more vivid!

Dressing for Art?

Is it art or do some people just dress for the part? I have seen some really wacky people (they call themselves 'artists') - the work they do speaks for itself - they seem to take more time dressing the part than doing the art! Anyway, its a funny world sometimes and there is a place for all of us. 

I am probably 'wacky' as well as I really don't care much for dressing up and always wear paint splattered clothes although I am quite a neat artist - the occasional splatter happens to the best of us. And I hate shoes. Winters in Ireland means I must wear shoes (or at least walk on socks when I am at home). However, summer time is shoeless time and my toes love the feeling of freedom. 

I always joke that I have feet like a Landrover's tyres! Broad with great tread and enough strength in my toes to hang out of a tree like our primate ancestors. Its a sin to constrict them in shoes.

Back to art. 

I have not had lots of time to paint over the last few months as teaching keeps me busy all the time. But I always have several works in progress which means that now and again I can upload new works. 

I am working on several wildlife paintings which always take a long time to finish - and so they should! Oil paints are wonderful but slow to dry so I love jumping around and choosing different things to paint - I could never paint the same thing again as my boredom threshold just won't allow it.  Oh and I must extol the wonderful properties of Rembrandt oils! Wow... I have been using them for some time now and just cannot get enough of the absolute brilliance of the colours and texture! 

So, what am I working on every spare moment when I am not teaching? Hah!

A polar bear (close to finish)

Rhino and baby

Huge male lion (close to finish)

Goldfish

Fighting springbuck rams

A five face portrait for my teaching class

A shop scene in Kilrush (very complicated and great fun)

A building in Kilrush (so far only the drawing complete)

Boat scene in Kilrush

An otter (almost finished)

So, when you don't see me so often, you know what I am doing! Oh, I just thought of something else to paint... I hope I live long enough to finish them all!!

"Sailing past Scattery Island, Kilrush, Ireland" - oil painting

Oils on a round linen canvas. I had lots of fun painting this view of a boat/yacht sailing past Scattery Island, Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland.

The view is of the ancient ruins of the church and round tower on Scattery Island.

Kilrush From the Marina - Oil Painting

Oils on canvas. A different view of Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland.

"Killrush - Cill Rois" - Oil Painting

Oils on canvas – (24×20 inches)

This painting took several months to complete as I tried to paint it as accurately as possible, using a magnifying glass for certain areas.

Kilrush is a lovely town, a few miles from where I live – friendly people, home of Mrs Crotty’s (pub well known for Irish traditional music) and the Vandeleur Gardens. (Vandeleur was the infamous landlord who evicted Irish tenants… see history below)

This view is of the bridge with the beautiful, historic church in the background and a few of the buildings known as Merchant’s Quay.

Left: part of the painting - little miniature cars in front of Merchant's Quay.

CILL ROIS, meaning the church of the promontory or woods has existed since the 16th century but it was not until the 18th century that it underwent major development. This development coincided with the succession of John Ormsby Vandeleur as the wealthiest landlord in the district. Of Dutch origin, the Vandeleur Family was the most prominent landlord family in West Clare. They designed the layout of the town and many of the present day street names derive from Vandeleur family names.

John Ormsby Vandeleur built the large family home, Kilrush House in 1808 and by that stage he practically owned Kilrush. With wealth achieved from a financially beneficial marriage and some political skulduggery, he decided to develop the town. A Scots businessman James Patterson, who had been a gunboat lieutenant until 1802, assisted him in this project. Patterson entered the oats trade in West Clare and in 1802 he got a site on the square from Vandeleur and erected a six-storey building.

However the famine years (1845-1849) brought much hardship to Kilrush. Famine, evictions, fever and cholera reduced the population of south-west Clare to such an extent that it never attained its pre famine numbers. In the post famine era, the Vandeleur name became synonymous with the worst of landlord evictions, with over 20,000 evicted in the Kilrush Union. The Kilrush workhouse witnessed terrible deprivation and deaths. By that stage Hector Vandeleur had succeeded John Ormsby Vandeleur.

Kilrush however survived these setbacks and with the arrival of the West Clare railway towards the end of the 19th century, developed into a bustling market town, the spirit of which lasts today. The designation of Kilrush as a Heritage Town recognises its legacy as a landlord estate town with a rich maritime and market tradition.
http://www.kilrush.ie/Ourtown/history.html

Rose of Clare

It's been quite a busy time for me but very enjoyable too. Art tuition, exhibitions, finding old friends from SA and the Rose of Clare festival.

So, I hope my blogging friends will forgive my absence and I hope to catch up soon.

Briefly, the exhibition was wonderful, lots of people and so great to see the interest. Congatulations to all my art group friends who sold paintings and thank you to everyone who joined us for a very pleasant evening.

Sunday was my third year of judging at the Rose of Clare festival in Cooraclare - a great day of excitement fun and games for the county of Clare.

My job each year is to choose the Bonny Baby and Glamourous Granny and it's certainly not easy as the county's bonniest little 'uns and beautiful grannies are very difficult to choose indeed...

In fact, and please don't tell anyone, I wish I could choose them all, give out all the trophies and run like hell from the other commitee members... just for fun.

Usually I stay for the end when we all participate in the tug'o war but this year I slipped away quietly as all the other events, courses, exhibitions, etc, have made me so exhausted that I feel quiet zombiefied. (Does that word exist?)

Last year, I was proud to win a trophy as did everyone in my team, for coming second in the tug 'o war event. My trophy has pride of position on the mantel piece. As the second of two teams, we won second place... you do the math. Hahaha.

Anyway, it was a great day and the festival continues for the rest of the week... if you are in county Clare, please come along and enjoy the rest of the events.

Oil Painting Art Course - County Clare, Ireland

I will be offering an oil painting art course on June 15, 2008.

For more information, please visit: Oil Painting Art Course