"Speed Boats at Dusk". West Pier, Dun Laoghaire.

This is a painting which is most certainly NOT one of my favourite’s in the world. Mind you, it most interesting: A lady i know well told me when she saw it - she was ‘mad about it’. Strange, when i was certainly gonna scrap it, and maybe even have put it in the wheelie bin! Peoples opinions are an indication to me where I’m going and what i should be aiming for. Like everything in life: there’s no such thing as perfection - it’s in the eye of the beholder. This painting is: Oil on canvas ” (20X16) Painted last year.

View of 'The Wicklow Way' - from Avoca, Co. Wicklow.

I’v been painting on and off for many years.I love this place called Avoca, Co. Wicklow. Its very much a wonderful County - especially in the summer when all the fields are in full sun. The changing colours of the fields. Nature running riot. Viewing a badger running for cover through briar’s is a ’sight for sore eyes’: what a lovely animal. This is the advantages of painting outdoors. The back round is the backside of the Sugar loaf  (mountain). This County is beautiful

'Murky friday morning, the icebox'

I know this is a ‘normal inclusion’ of this scene, but, i love this place. To be honest, i really feel it’s my back yard! I love the smell of the fish, the chatter from the fishermen..(who are saints i think) and the call of the gulls hovering above the trawlers. If you look hard: you’ll see no people - it was raining and everyone literary scattered for their cars. Luckily i was safe behind the wheel of mine. This was painted in about…30/40 minutes.

Art on the Green

1715 paintings have been sold since Nov 14th 2008 till 30th July 2009. Next auction - Sunday 6th September 2009. Viewing held for this auction: Thurs 27th Aug - 12 - 5pm.

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"Fish delivery van at the 'Ice Box' Coal Harbour, Dun Laoire"

This is another example of watercolour done rapidly and spontaneously. Watercolour has the capacity for resourceful situations like this - i wanted to capture the white van against the dark wall of the fish storage ‘ice box’…(this is what it’s called locally) to show the contrasts and loved the colours in general of the whole marine life, with nets crab nets, trawler masts, etc. This scene has been done to death by me: as I’ve said many times before - marine life is a strong magnet that holds me and won’t let go. I think you can tell an artists love by their work; just look at the old English watercolour master Turners watercolours - breathtaking!

"Crab Boats at Bullock Harbour"

Another marine life scene with all the usual goings on at a pier/harbour. This was done again swiftly and action was needed to do a painting as this one: rain was imminent and speed and fast instinctive action was required to finish it before the whole page was soaked. You can probably see by my work the ‘quick strokes’ of the brush, especially in the foreground water. One thing i hate: the paint takes ages to dry in wet/heavy weather- that’s where you need a e multitude of patients for outdoor painting. It’s all worth it in the end i think.

'The Bungalow' Co, Wicklow

This is a watercolour painting I’ve done only last week. i haven’t been on my blog in ages: answer…LAZY! Sorry folks, but forgive me. I love showing my work: not in a smirk, show off  way - but, a way to show people who love and appreciate ‘Plein Air’ painting, or painting from out in the great outdoors: nothing like it. It’s the REAL way to capture the landscape, especially here in this wonderful land called Ireland: simply breathtaking! If you study the sky you will see I’ve overdone it a bit i think, this is the secret with watercolour, never overdo it - you will loose the spontaneity, which watercolour is all about.

'Wheat Fields in full Sun: Co, Wicklow'

This is a painting i did around the same as the other above. I loved painting this one. The sun shining on the fields was really spectacular. The sun really blazed on the fields at the brow of the hill. It was contrasted by the dark sky..(which should have been painted darker) which was just the moment to get my sketchbook at the ready. I have my knapsack in the car: ready for the moment. I was happy enough with this painting. I hope to eventually make a oil painting out of it. The foreground van gives a sense of movement and openness.

'Pleasure Boats moored' (Dun Laoire)

This is a watercolour i did a short while back. With all my images - i love to show a dept of reality in my subjects, here is no exception. I love the water and the ‘wet into wet’ approach. I did this sketch…that’s all it really is - on a pretty sunny afternoon on my portable easel…my knees! It’s a great way to paint, fast and no fuss. When a subject confronts you - you must take full advan.tage and time wasting is not my forte. The dark back round was vital to show the highlights of the boats and there shapes, also the colour of the water.

'Trawler been painted in dry dock'

This sketch is from the same area, but it’s a trawler on a mobile boat crane. The men were hard at work painting and priming the whole hull and base of the boat. I had to capture it on paper. What attracted me was the red colour of the trawler. The new paint was so vivid and sharp in the sunlight, it was just right timing. The crane framed the whole design of the painting i think. I felt i had to put in the van, as this represented the workmen. I’m sure it’s blocking the view of the scene, but, also it adds a reality of life.

Jenny Saville: With the transvestite I was searching for a body that was between genders. I had explored that idea a little in Matrix. The idea of floating gender that is not fixed. The transvestite I worked with has a natural penis and false silicone breasts. Thirty or forty years ago this body couldn’t have existed and I was looking for a kind of contemporary architecture of the body. I wanted to paint a visual passage through gender — a sort of gender landscape. To scale from the penis, across a stomach to the breasts, and finally the head. I tried to make the lips and eyes be very seductive and use directional mark-making to move your eye around the flesh.

Simon Schama: So you really do manipulate what’s in front of you through the mark-making. It’s very striking — I’m looking at a photograph of your transvestite painting Passage and that passage that moves from the penis and balls to the belly is really about the anatomy of paint as it constructs the body.

I Love this Artist: Jenny Saville. Born in Cambridge England 1970. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1988 to 1992. Where she won the Craig award and Newberry medal. She won a scholarship to attend Cincinnati University for six months, where her fascination with the human form started to influence her work and Saville became interested in ‘the malls’. Where you saw lots of big women, big white flesh in shorts and tee-shirts. Depicting bodies that live outside the standard boundaries of attractiveness. Jenny moved to New York in 1994, where she was able to sit and observe the work of plastic surgeon Dr. Barry Martin Weintraub, she was allowed to take photos of the cosmetic surgery and liposuctions Dr. Weintraub performed in the theatre and gained a much better understanding of the human body. She is based in Sicily,Italy where she lives and works.

Jenny has established herself at a relatively young age. She is only 39, and her awards are ‘as long as her arm’. What I’m fascinated about this artist is not only is she true to her work, but, her representation of the human form with ‘warts ‘an all’. She has a genuine feel for the emotions on the faces and bodies she depicts, and also she paints with sombre colours in her limited palette. Black is featured in a lot of the works…(probably very dark blues and earth tones though). Jenny’s work  is represented on the new album (cover) of  the  Manic Street Preachers : Journey for plague lovers. Anyone interested in painting/drawing the human body will appreciate this talented woman.

‘Camden Street’ John Morris.

‘Solace’ Markey Robinson

'Country Road, Kilternan'

This is yet another sketch i did a few weeks ago while not busy, which is rare! Maybe i am lazy though and should sketch more. I think this might make a good finished painting - maybe in oils. It deserves strong colours, and , i think oil is the medium for it. What drew me to this was the serenity of the scene and the colours of the trees. The road gives a feeling of  emptiness in the desolate landscape. A well know Irish Artist: Trevor Geoghagen is a master at this type of perspective. He loves country roads, barns, and all things relating to his beloved Co Wicklow.

'Trawlers in dock ready to unload'

This painting was done on the spot. It was painted very quickly, as i had to hurry to avoid the rain coming down. Watercolour and rain don’t go hand in hand! I was happy with the out come - even though it was done quickly, i feel you can work more diligently and effectively, as your senses are more heightened when your under pressure. I must admit - i love the transparent colours of the trawlers. Marine life never seizes to amaze me. This will probably be the start of a painting to be. I can relate to these scenes as there’s an empathy when i put brush to canvas.