Paintings On Impulse

Irises and Tulips

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 14:30:00 +0000

Each of these Giclee images is 66 cm wide and 44 cm high (about 26" x 17"), printed on canvas and stretched over a wooden frame (like an art canvas).

In short, a Giclee is a high quality print where pigments have been used to print the image instead of inks, giving the final product a life span of a minimum of 100 years instead of 25 years.

On purchase, shipment to a destination in Ireland is included; we will be happy to supply a quote for shipment to any other part of the world.

It is also possible to ship the Giclee to you rolled up in a tube and you can arrange to either have the Giclee stretched or framed, or both. This would be the most reasonably priced option.

Price excluding international shipping : €135

"Irises and Tulips"

Oranges and Lemons

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 12:20:00 +0000

Last November we spent a couple of weeks in the Algarve in Portugal. As my 87 year old Mum cannot walk around much, we took loads of drives, and on one such sunny day drive, stopped at a window to buy oranges. We literally did stop at a window .... a very bright pile of bags of oranges were displayed beneath a colourful umbrella outside the front parlour window of a house on the main road. As I walked up to the house an elderly woman leaned out of the window and silently took my money, indicating I should help myself to a bag of fruit. €2 bought us a healthy sackful and, as is everything in our home, they were photographed to death by yours truly before anyone was allowed to taste their juiciness.

A couple of months later in January, back home in Connemara, the snow covered our pile of turf in the garden, urgently inviting me to rush out and buy a horde of lovely, yellow lemons. I sliced some of them and threw them all on the snow, whipping out my camera to catch their sharpness against the white snow.

I hope you enjoy the results .....

Each of these "Oranges and Lemons" Giclee prints is 66 cm wide and 44 cm high (about 26" x 17"), printed on canvas and stretched over a wooden frame (like an art canvas).

In short, a Giclee is a high quality print where pigments have been used to print the image instead of inks, giving the final product a life span of a minimum of 100 years instead of 25 years.

On purchase, shipment to a destination in Ireland is included; we will be happy to supply a quote for shipment to any other part of the world.

It is also possible to ship the Giclee to you rolled up in a tube and you can arrange to either have the Giclee stretched or framed, or both. This would be the most reasonably priced option for buyers our of Ireland.

Price excluding international shipping : €135

"Anticipation"

"Iced Lemon"

"Juice of Portugal"

"Lemon Crystal"

"Orange Squeeze"

"Lemon Wheel"

"Orange Tower"

"Lemon Zest"

"Sliced Delight"

Lynda Cookson New Irish Art

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 10:06:00 +0000

Lynda Cookson New Irish Art

Naga Headhunter Skulls

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 10:46:00 +0000

I had loads of fun this week researching and producing this painting (which looks a bit darker in this image than it actually is) about the Naga headhunters from the Himalayas. We're invited to the first birthday party of The Co-Op, a pub and restaurant in Moycullen, where I'll be opening The Painter's Palette in a couple of weeks time (in Moycullen, not in The Co-Op!), so this painting is their birthday present.

I so enjoyed myself ... actually painting in the kitchen on top of the chest freezer because my studio's table is full of other paraphenalia until I open the gallery ... that I think I'll develop the two studies I did, a little further and see if they can turn out okay too.

I've been wanting to experiment with watercolour again for a while now - although I cheated here, as I usually seem to do - by using acrylic paper and not watercolour paper. I also tried out a new method of printing (well, it's new to me anyhow) using the image I printed on my office printer and acrylic gloss medium. 'Twas fun!

The Painter's Palette

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:40:00 +0000

I am opening a gallery and working studio called The Painter’s Palette in the Moycullen Shopping Centre (Co Galway) during October / November 2010 … and have two opportunities to offer artists – as below.

Contact me on : lyndacookson (at) gmail (dot) com

The Painter’s Palette
I am inviting Contract Guest Artists to join me at The Painter’s Palette.

Guest Artists are limited to 6 artists on a one year contract @ €120 per month payable by debit order or one annual payment, with the following being offered:

* 6 medium-size paintings to be held in gallery (breaks down to €20 per painting pm)
* Insurance of paintings included (to a specified value)
* 4 weeks corridor display window every three months (16 weeks pa)
4 weeks road display window every three months (16 weeks pa)
TOTAL 32 weeks per annum window space
* No commission on sales of original art
* 30% commission on sales of prints or giclees
* 50% commission on sales of cards and other merchandise
20% commission on sales of artist’s books
* 1 Opening Night per annum as exhibition including at least 6 extra medium/large sized paintings on solo exhibition within the gallery (not including windows) for a 48 hour period;
100 postcard invitations designed and supplied (addressed and posted at artist's expense);
email invitations designed (and sent to artist’s email database, if required, at no extra charge);
3 red wine, 3 white wine, bottled water, wine glasses, tumblers, and one bowl snacks included;
staff members from The Painter’s Palette on hand to conduct admin of sales and to arrange cleaning up after the Opening Night;
music and/or speaker optional extra.
* Opportunity to hold paid workshops and/or demonstrations on a 60/40 basis instead of a 50/50 basis
* Portfolio and/or contact details and business cards displayed continually on premises
* Inclusion on website – www.ThePaintersPalette.ie (presently under construction)
* Inclusion in internet and other advertising when appropriate at The Painter's Palette's discretion

The second opportunity:
Moycullen Shopping Centre Window Lessees

The Moycullen Shopping Centre has granted me the contract to temporarily lease out their window space and to negotiate the temporary (part-time) leasing of a larger unit space if requested for daily, weekly or weekend exhibitions.

Monthly contracts for window space are priced per size and position of window. Prices are given below in both monthly and weekly segments for your information, but contracts are monthly, not weekly. Space is limited to the window and 1.5 metres of floor space away from the window (enough to allow space for an easel to stand):

OFFER :
When you rent a window for 3 months the third month is half price
When you rent a window for 6 months the sixth month is free

These are the rentals per month:
Roadside Windows €100 (approx €25 per week or €3.33 a day for a monthly contract)
Windows within the Centre €80 (€20 per week or €2.67 a day for a monthly contract)
Small Windows €72 (€18 per week or €2.40 a day for a monthly contract)

Should the Window Lessees wish to make a little further use of the space by being there to promote their work during weekends or weekdays if they are able, the use of the window and 1 table and chair space is an extra €10 per day. No further artwork is permitted apart from the window space.

For the use of a larger area of unit space for one day, or a longer period, the rental is negotiable depending on the size of the unit or the amount of space required by the Window Lessee.

No keys to the premises will be given to the temporary lessees at any time so opening and closing times must depend on the working hours of the Moycullen Shopping Centre caretakers.

There is also a CLASSIFIEDS WINDOW where businesses can advertise on an A4 size sheet placed on two large boards in the unit opposite the entrance to Supervalu. The price for this is €10 per month with the same 3 month and 6 month Specials.
Lastly (before the images):
I have been awarded the contract to organise 5 events for the Shopping Centre per annum - Christmas, St Patrick's Day, Easter, Summer and Halloween. This will create even more of a buzz in the centre.

Now .....
Here are some rainy day pics taken of where The Painter's Palette is setting up home in Moycullen, approximately 10 miles or 15 kms from Galway city - and one of the gateway villages to Connemara.

More about Moycullen on : www.Moycullen.net

I have recently curated a successful exhibition, "Riding High", in the Moycullen Shopping Centre, involving just more than 40 artists and in excess of 220 paintings. I counted visitors on my little people-counter-clicker-thingamajiggy and in the first week we had an average of 90 visitors a day (excluding children) and in the second week, which coincided with Galway Race Week, we had between 50 and 100 people through the door each day. Painting sales were satisfactory leaning towards good (for the times), artist merchandise sales were very good indeed and demonstration/workshop response and participation excellent.

One of the nice things about Moycullen is that the residential population is large and increasing - which means that business does not rely entirely on the tourist trade. Also, the unit I have chosen in the Moycullen Shopping Centre is perfect for early-morning traffic jam viewing :-)

If you were travelling from Oughterard or Clifden (Connemara, in other words) towards Galway, this is your view of the shopping centre as you approach the main intersection.
You would take a left at the traffic light to go down to the basement parking of
the centre, passing The Painter's Palette as you do so.

This is the view of The Painter's Palette's 4 roadside windows
once you have taken that left turn down from the Main N59 road.
They are the two large windows in the stone part of the building
(closest to the right hand side of the image)
and the two smaller windows in the reddish-painted part of the building.
This is where the morning traffic - and loads of other traffic - builds up.

A close-up view of The Painter's Palette and her neighbour, Fat Tony's the Barber.
You can also see the first of 3 large corridor windows, and the front door,
of The Painter's Palette.

Another close-up, and a different angle, showing the steps
which take pedestrians down next to The Painter's Palette
as they enter the corridor which takes them towards
Supervalue and the Matt O'Flaherty's Pharmacy.

The steps and a full frontal of The Painter's Palette's
three corridor windows and double front door.

That's The Painter's Palette on the right at the end of the corridor.
This corridor leads to the Pharmacy on the corner (you can see
it's green windows on the left here) and Supervalu.
Fat Tony's is there on the left opposite The Painter's Palette.

This red-coated future-painting-buying-customer (:-) !!)
has just come from the corridor past The Painter's Palette
is passing the Pharmacy and on his way to Supervalu
which is off the image to the left.

It appears I caught the same red-coated person leaving
Supervalue and passing the escalator which takes you
upstairs to The Village Bookshop (lovely big bookshop!)
and to Arabica coffee shop. The other units up there are
emtpy so far ... until we fill them with artists!

Another view of the central courtyard with the Pharmacy on the right,
Supervalu on the left, the escalator in the middle and there's a hidden
shop call WebSaver's on the same level. A staircase (or the lift)
takes you down to the car parking level where there is a stunning
fresh fish shop and a couple of other units awaiting tenants.

Standing inside the still-raw unit for The Painter's Palette
and looking out from where the counter and staff member
will spend their days selling nice arty-farty things.
I'm pretty sure my figures are correct (ish) when I say
that the gallery space is about 51 sq metres.
The workroom area goes off at an Lshape on the
right hand side of this image.

There you are - we're now standing at the inner end of the
working studio part of The Painter's Palette with the counter
and staff member's position off to the left around the corner of the Lshape.
The working studio (for dems and workshops and classes)
is approximately 37 sq metres. We also have a super low-ceilinged
storage area known affectionately as The Cave.

How To Build Stocks of Merchandise to Sell

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 17:24:00 +0000

Paintings on show at "Riding High" exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:40:00 +0000

Here are the paintings being offered in this summer's
"Riding High" exhibition which opened at the
Radisson Blu Hotel in Galway on 12 July 2010
moved to Moycullen on 19 July until 1 August (2 weeks)
and then on to St Patrick's Trian in Armagh
for the month of August

Please email offers on paintings to me at:
lyndacookson at gmail dot com

* * * * * Measurements given are the unframed size * * * * *
All Paintings are Framed

Colours of the paintings are deeper and more rich
than computer images can portray

The Horse Collection

"Little Blue" SOLD

"The Gallop" €380
Oil on Linen Covered Board 320 x 330 mm

"Fuerta Caballo" SOLD

"Little Brown Horse" €130
Acrylic on paper 110 x 165 mm

"Neck and Neck" €550
Oil on paper 610 x 440 mm

"Something For Me" €250
Oil on Linen Covered Board 320 x 330 mm

"Caballo Libre" (Freedom Horse) €1200
Oil on Linen Covered Board 500 x 605 mm

"Caballo de Vida" (Horse "To Life") €1200
Oil on Linen Covered Board 610 x 450 mm

"Little Foal" €330
Acrylic on Board 323 x 310 mm

"Maternindad Amore" (Maternal Love) €1200
Oil on Linen Covered Board 610 x 480 mm

"Flying Solo" €1200
Oil on Canvas 655 x 810 mm

The Floral Collection

"Margueritas Blancas" (White Daisies) €1200
Oil on Canvas 510 x 610 mm

"Peachy Plates" €850
Acrylic on Handmade Paper 390 x 560 mm

"Little Sunflowers" €290
Mixed Media on Paper 110 x 165 mm

"Vase on Wet Table" €110
Water Oils on Board 127 x 178 mm

"A Step Up" €95
Watercolour Pencil on Paper 112 x 165 mm

"Looking Out" €580
Mixed Media on Paper 390 x 290 mm

"Summer Mischief" €250
Acrylic on Canvas 250 x 340 mm

"Thelma's Vase" €95
Oil on Paper 110 x 160 mm

"Pink Lady" €85
Acrylic on Board Approx. 112 x 165 mm

"Big Whites" €850
Oil on Paper 390 x 480 mm

"A Wild Bunch" €580
Oil on Paper Approx. 355 x 530 mm

Landscapes and Seascapes

"Boats on Inishmacatreer" €330
Oil on Board 400 x 315 mm

"Playful Dive" €290
Oil on Linen Covered Board Approx. 323 x 310 mm

"Across the Bay at New Quay" €750
Oil on Board 635 x 480 mm

"Fraggy Shore" €980
Oil on Board 605 x 495 mm

"Hot Fields of Lilac" €280

Oil on Paper

"Towards Leckavrea, Maam" €250
Acrylic on Paper 195 x 130 mm

"Spirit of the Bog, Connemara 1" €210
Oil on Paper 160 x 110 mm

"Weather Rolling In" €590
Acrylic on Board 445 x 605 mm

Birds

"Henry" €420
Acrylic on Paper 295 x 295 mm

"Hector" €420
Acrylic on Paper 255 x 305 mm

"For Life" €85
Acrylic on Canvas

Watercolour

"Red Boat" €85
Watercolour on paper 170 x 120 mm

Giclees
Giclees are prints of original paintings which are guaranteed
not to fade for a century or more and are usually
produced in Limited Editions on canvas. Pure pigments
are used to produce the giclee rather than the less
durable inks, used in normal printing methods and
texture reproduction is one of their strongest features.

"Leopard and Paws Abstract" €250
Giclee

"Bubble Invasion" €60
Giclee (A3 size)

The Cill Rialaig Collection

This collection of abstracts was inspired during a residency at
Cill Rialaig near Ballinskelligs in Co Kerry. I usually visit
Cill Rialaig in January when the winds are howling and
the sea is pumping with huge white-foamed waves.
The atmosphere conjures up images of the spirits of
people who lived their years ago ... which is how each
painting comes to be named after a former resident of the area.

"Bolus Head Spirit Party" €750
Acrylic on Paper 560 x 690 mm

"Muiris O'Connaill" €390
Acrylic on Board 300 x 330 mm

"Seamus O'Connaill" €390
Acrylic on Board 305 x 320 mm

"Donal O'Connaill" €390
Acrylic on Board 310 x 325 mm

"Bride O'Connaill" €390
Acrylic on Board 300 x 320 mm

"Daniel O'Connell. The Liberator" €390
Acrylic on Board 305 x 325 mm

"An Sceilig Beag. Little Skellig" €390
Acrylic on Board 305 x 325 mm

"Tomas Rua O'Suilleabhain. Poet" €390
Acrylic on Board 305 x 325 mm

"The Fenians of Cahersiveen" €390
Acrylic on Board 305 x 325 mm

"Peats O'Cealla" €390
Acrylic on Board 3235 x 303 mm

"Cill Rialaig - The Church of the Regulars" €390
Acrylic on Board 305 x 325 mm

Portraits

"Small Bearded Bushman" €220
Watercolour on Paper 330 x 340 mm

Monoprints and Linocuts

"Paws in the Grass" €175
Linocut 140 x 155 mm

"Tail Flicks" €195
Monoprint 255 x 255 mm

"A Little Potty" €195
Monoprint 255 x 255 mm

Monprints with Charcoal Line Drawings

In reality, these monoprint backgrounds are incredibly
more rich in colour - I just couldn't seem to catch the depth
of colour in a digital image for the internet!

"Herself" €195
Monoprint background with Charcoal Line Drawing
255 x 255 mm

"Told You So!" €195
Monoprint Background with Charcoal Line Drawing
255 x 255 mm

"His Foot" €195
Monoprint background with Charcoal Line Drawing

5 x 255 mm

"She Shrugged" €195
Monoprint background with Charcoal Line Drawing
255 x 255 mm

"My Eye" €195
Monoprint background with Charcoal Line Drawing
255 x 255 mm

Pencil and Charcoal Sketches

"Stretching" €290
Pencil on Paper 450 x 560 mm

"Maya" €450
Pencil on Paper 560 x 600 mm

The humorous "Boob Collection"
These three are the last of a collection of eight
charcoal line drawings on textured cotton handmade paper
(which does not show up on these digital images)
They are light-hearted renditions created to bring
a smile to your face!
They are float-framed in a thin black frame

No 1 from the Boob Collection €195
110 x 150 mm

No 2 from The Boob Collection €195
110 x 150 mm

No 3 from The Boob Collection €195
110 x 150 mm

"The Quiet Man Bridge" €70

Recent sales from The Ladies Buttery in Cong, Co Mayo

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Edge of the Bog

Acrylic on board

SOLD - with thanks to Robert Devereau of "The Ladies Buttery" in Cong, Co Mayo.

And then ........

A couple of months ago, Robert ("The Ladies Buttery" in Cong, Co Mayo) also sold this painting of mine:

Windy Field of Daisies

Acrylic on paper

SOLD - with thanks to Robert Devereau of "The Ladies Buttery" in Cong, Co Mayo.

Oops .... but what the heck!

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:37:00 +0000

Oh dear. I called the Flaggy Shore "Fraggy Bay". But I like Fraggy Bay. Call it artist's licence?

Fraggy Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:49:00 +0000

I’ve told the story a few times before, about the time Frank Sanford made me a cup of coffee and then sat comfortably drinking it for me. Well, on the subject of food, drink and artists, not only did he make me a cup of coffee and allow me to drink it the last time I visited him, but he prepared a lunch spread fit for a queen (me). After photographing as many of his paintings as possible, for selection and publication in my first book in the series “Tea ‘n
Turps”, I didn’t need much encouragement to join Frank and his wife, Marych, for a sumptuous meal of couscous buried amongst sugar snap peas, huge, juicy prawns, crab legs and who knows what else he had tossed together with some choice hot, green chillis – picked from the crops in that self-same greenhouse tunnel he has in his garden where he drank my coffee that day in 2005. He even gave me a doggy bag to take home to my husband, Alan. I’d say he’s admirably redeemed himself.

Yesterday (8 August 2009) I joined about ten other painters on a one-day landscape painting course just beyond New Quay, Co. Clare, in Fraggy Bay, given by Frank, hoping to learn the magic of his fresh and wild landscape techniques.

Frank is all heart. He’s mushy emotion, big comfy hugs, and a grin full of twinkly eyes, only gently growling like a cat who feels she’s been stroked and tickled for too long, if he feels his creative space being crowded out. And that’s what he teaches: know your basics of tone and composition, but paint from your heart, paint from your soul, acknowledge your style, love what you do and have confidence in your freedom to paint who you are.

The weather was good and got better as the day wore on so the only element we had to battle was a bit of a sea breeze. My easel was a bit light and wonky but with the help of a few strips of elastoplast from the safety-first bag in my car, I managed to stick my canvas-covered board to the easel and secure it’s feet firmly amongst a couple of nearby rocks.

This is the second painting course I’ve done, ever, and I noticed a bit of a worrying pattern in my behaviour emerging. The reason I do the courses is to learn from a seasoned painter; one who has battled challenges and come out of it with something to give, something he feels is worthwhile to contribute to the art world. The day begins fresh for me and my first painting complies with the lesson of the morning … never perfect, but hopefully with potential. There’s usually a good spot and a bad spot in the painting and, as usual, the bad spot yells louder than the good spot, like a bully in the classroom, sapping the confidence of the good spot and hindering its growth. But that’s not the pattern I’m worried about. I can work on that one back in the studio.

Fraggy Bay, New Quay (Painting unfinished!)

Lunch break comes and goes and as we settle into the next phase of the course, lo and behold, off Cookson goes doing her own thing, half-heartedly trying to incorporate the lessons of the morning, but allowing another bully to take over, the rebellious bohemian streak, which sits on my shoulder and whispers: “You can do something different here. Give the lesson a nod with a taste of what you learnt, but hey-ho-off-you-go, bring in a bit of abstract now.” And invariably I make a mess, use the most awful colour choices, and cause the teacher to tap into every ounce of politeness he can muster, so he doesn’t have to crush me entirely at crit time.

Across from New Quay Pier (Painting unfinished!)

And that’s exactly what happened yesterday. I loved the day, had an absolute ball socialising with the other artists and Frank, bought some first class salmon and prawns from the little fish shop in New Quay, revelled in the fresh sea air, sunshine and scenery … and messed up with the lesson.

Tarantula Trees and Mud, Mud, Mud

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:26:00 +0000

I asked John Dinan if he would pretty please write me some words to upload to this blog after he had read my Diary of an Artist's First Landscape Painting Course (here, below). Being the great guy that he is, he happily obliged, so you now have a very balanced story - by teacher and student - of a painting course and 'what goes on' ..... hope it helps you aspiring painters .... and, of course, I highly recommend you take John's course. He's a great artist and a confidence-inspiring teacher. Read what he has to say at the end of this 5-day diary:

Diary of an Artist's First Landscape Painting Course

A few weeks ago I attended a week-long landscape painting course run by John Dinan in Cross, Co. Mayo. Images of my fellow artists on the course are scattered amongst the words below.

John Dinan advising fellow artist Naimh Slack

Monday morning, and I arrived at John Dinan’s studio in Cross, Co Mayo with just enough time to meet my seven fellow pupils for the week-long landscape painting course, and to set up my paints in a back corner of the room. Habits from school years, another life away, don’t ever die and I will always slink to the back of the room where I – stupidly - think I won’t be conspicuous and can work through my insecurities in peace.

Anne Kiernan

It rained that day, so we painted indoors after a 45-minute introductory talk and lesson from John. He encouraged us to make use of a few dry minutes to go out into the garden, which faced onto rolling stone wall-enclosed fields of black-faced sheep, and a cluster of pine trees in the distance, and to pick out a scene or a subject which inspired us to paint. I chose a tree with interesting branches, not too many leaves, and the landscape of fields, stone walls and sheep stretching out beyond it; although I could have picked trees or bushes in the garden, or the pot plants on a wooden deck, for my inspiration.

Full of false hope about my abilities, I faced the blank canvas for mere seconds before enthusiastically applying an oil and turpentine wash in the colour John suggested …. and hit my first challenge. Colour.

Clive Budd

Colour is an extremely personal thing, to which we all react differently. I’ve read many an article on the emotional and healing effects of colour but hadn’t as yet tested my own reactions so directly. I tried – I really did – to work with colours that were alien to me, to which I have never been attracted, but I felt no sense of excitement, no thrill of creation, and no sense of anticipation as I put brush to board and slowly tried to create my scene. John passed by a few times - well, squashed himself into my corner in the room a few times - peering over my shoulder and eventually muttering in frustration: “Put paint on the board Lynda … come on. Your tree looks like a tarantula … and I’m afraid of spiders!” He grinned, and left me to it, sauntering off in that maddeningly confident way that a teacher has and a pupil hasn’t, I thought as I grimly battled on.

Damian O'Toole

I felt lost and hopelessly inadequate as I put paint on and then scraped it off again. In an effort to save myself I retraced my steps through the process he had taught us that morning, but I still couldn’t find the spark that I needed in order to create, and to begin to learn what I had come to learn.

Dorothy Moorhead

What had I come to learn?

I have long admired John’s ability to portray light and shadow in his landscapes and still life paintings. His paintings are so alive with his ability to paint the subject as it should be and yet bring in a looseness and freshness which shows his skill with technique and his excellent handling of colour. His paintings are uncluttered and he really does make it look like an easy process. That’s what I wanted to learn. How to portray light and dark; how to use colour more subtly than I do; and how to have confidence in painting landscapes according to nature instead of according to my imagination.

Hannah Dyas

Ha! And here I was with half a board covered in muddy brush strokes of greens and browns, a purple stone wall forlornly marching across the bottom of the painting, and a leafless tarantula tree painted in a myriad of rebellious colours with a palette knife, my usual weapon of choice. My pine trees in the distance had started to look good, thanks to John’s help in encouraging me to paint the sky in around the trees instead of trying to paint the sky first and then put the trees in. His way was much more painterly and skilful, giving the little forest a place within the landscape instead of a place on the landscape.

Niamh Slack

I didn’t finish my painting that day and felt it to be lifeless, crying out for palette knife work and colours that weren’t there, to be put in. I hadn’t yet begun to learn anything and was childishly yearning to hang on to my rebellious techniques of comfort and habit. I turned my back on it at the end of the day, left it in the studio forlornly sitting on my wobbly travel easel, and went home thinking “mud, mud, mud” with the only redeeming feature being the indication of where my sheep were going to be.

Tom Walsh

As I write, the painting is still no closer to completion and life than it was at the end of that day, so I shall photograph it to show you, before I either paint over it in frustration and shame, or manage to finish it and post it up on this blog at some future date. Here it is …………

Sheep In Cross

Day two:

A Bill for Eye Anti-Wrinkle Cream

John’s way is to squint at the view before him to discern tone, the lights and the darks in shape and shadow, in the scene. As you screw your eyes about 90% shut, you can easily pick out, for example, the dark of a clump of trees, the medium tone of distant mountains and the light tone of the water in the lough.

Tuesday, the second day of the course, and only showers of rain threatened, so we drove out to Inismachatreer, an island linked to the mainland by a low stone causeway. We set up our painting gear in a spacious public area where there were a few fishing boats pulled up onto the lakeshore. There was ample space for the eight of us to spread ourselves out and I settled myself on a waterproof groundsheet, with legs pushed out in front of me, into the sneeze-inducing deep grasses to paint the lake and a couple of boats from waist-high (where I was sitting) water level, peering through grasses and lilac flowers.

I battled again with the darks and lights thing, and with using brushes. Also, I had chosen to start with yellow ochre instead of brown, and as John had warned, it instinctively caused me to choose lighter colours than I was actually seeing. After a bout of no self-confidence, and muttering to John that I was going to send him a bill for eye anti-wrinkle cream with all the squinting I was doing, I snatched up my favourite palette knife, resorted to my favourite pure colours, and produced a small painting of a couple of boats prow-nesting into the grasses, entirely using my well-entrenched personal style, preventing myself entirely from learning anything at all from the course that day.

Boats on Inishmacatreer

I felt pleased with myself even although I felt the niggle of guilt and under-achievement knocking on my thick-skulled head. I was still refusing entry to the ability to learn, while smiling sweetly at John when he finally found me hidden in the grass, complaining about my inabilities (poor me, not my fault, not my usual style, moan, moan, moan) and battling to take up his challenges. The day ended with my fellow artists saying nice things about my efforts and me feeling probably more hollow than the day before.

I went home that night and recalled the words of Philip Gray, an artist I had interviewed a couple of weeks previously, who said, “I paint emotion.” That’s me, I decided, and offered this as my excuse to the group next morning. Actually, I truly believe it to be so, but I had signed up for John’s course because I have a lot of respect for his method of working and for his finished paintings; for the way he can express light and dark, giving life to a scene without putting any people in it – and that was what I should have been trying to do. I should have been putting in 100% effort and removing 100% ego for the five days of the course, even if I did revert to some of my personal techniques afterwards. It’s not so easy but I vowed to try better.

Day three looms .....

Depicting Emotion

Wednesday, the third day, with good weather, we set off for the ancient ruins of the Abbey in Cong. From the shade of the huge, old trees in the grounds of the Abbey ruins, you cross a small bridge over a stream glittering with tourists’ hopeful wishes and coins, walk through a picturesque archway with no purpose (as far as I can tell) other than beauty, and follow a short pathway which leads you to the Monks’ stone fishing hut on the river. I’ve often been there to peer through the hole in the floor of the hut, through which the Monks would cast their line, while being warmed by a smouldering fire in the fireplace. Evidently a rope and bell system had been rigged up so that when a fish took the bait at its peril, the Monks tugged the rope, which rang a bell in the Abbey, and one of the Nuns would hurry down to the hut to fetch the next meal for cooking.

From the Monks’ fishing hut you can return to the path, take the bridge over the main part of the river, wander under another historical and decorative archway, and spend either a brisk or a leisurely hour or so wandering along the circular walk, through the forested area at the back of Ashford castle.

For my painting challenge of that day, I selected a position at the edge of the river, beneath the ancient trees, peering through a gap in the foliage at the reflections in the water of a yellow-leafed bush on the other side of the water. Surely that view would provide me with the necessary darks and lights.

I started off well, again with a yellow ochre wash and the darks marked in well on the canvas. Today however, we had an audience. People wandering through the park also wandered up to the artists’ easels to peer over their shoulders … and that’s my excuse for again reverting to my tried and tested painting techniques – palette knife more than brush and pure colour more than mixed colours. Again I depicted emotion rather than nature, and this time, I wasn’t even that proud of the end result. I felt quite desperate, being able to hear what John was saying but not seemingly able to put his lessons into practice.

The River Runs Past the Abbey in Cong

Perhaps over-working and putting too much paint onto the canvas, not adhering to “more is less”, is my problem. However, knowing what your problem probably is, and being able to correct it, are way too far apart in reality for ease of learning.

After the session, we all trooped up to the Cong Art Gallery run by Sheila Byrne, John’s wife, to let our eyes wander over the selection of paintings and to discuss how the artists had put the basic techniques of shade and composition to good effect. A painting by Irish artist, Manus Walsh, really impressed me and was to influence what I did the next day.

Day four coming up ......

Disaster Day and The Really Awful Painting

The second to last day of the course, Thursday, and we again piled into our cars and headed out a little beyond the turning for Inishmacatreer where we had been on the second day. This time we headed to a part of the lough-shore where the only inland lighthouse in Europe still stands strong and accessible. In its prime, a flame would be lit to guide the fishermen safely back to shore between the rocks and shallows; nowadays it’s a fun spot for the local children to gather and to slither into the cold lake waters on a hot summer’s day.

I chose to paint a silhouette of the tower, planning to create a monochrome effect, with abstract in mind. In other words, I was planning on using only one or two colours in different tones, with a small depiction of the tower in the top third of the painting tapering down with a textured effect into the lower two thirds of the canvas. Like I mentioned, with Manus Walsh’s painting, the one I saw hanging in Cong Art gallery yesterday, in mind.

Hearing, but not adhering to John’s words earlier in the week about the colour to choose for the base wash, I used blue, yellow and warm pink, blended into each other where they touched, pure and unmixed. My choice totally ruined my plan of a monochrome painting. Boy, it was proving difficult to rid my system of pure and bright colour! John had warned that the choice of base colour will always influence your choice of colour for the rest of the painting. I completed my painting long before anyone else in the group and ended up with something that would fit in with goods on sale in a tourist bazaar. I don’t feel comfortable describing it here, and by the time you read this, it will have been destroyed, which may give you some indication of how bad it was. I went home that day absolutely determined to make good for the whole week on the last day.

I have a photograph of “the awful painting” as it leans against the wheel of my car:

Aaaargh! No title for this one!!! And anyway, it doesn't exist any more :-)

One more day left .....

Did I learn anything?

Friday dawned, the last day of our course. I knew John planned for us to stay in the studio for the day, using the time to finish incomplete paintings and giving us a chance to use his guidance for the last time that week. I decided to take up his offer, select one of his paintings and copy it as directly as I could. If I couldn’t learn by applying his suggestions and lessons in my own way, perhaps I needed to be a copycat to understand where I was going wrong.

It was the best thing I could have done at that stage in the course, and although I feel the painting is very dark indeed for me, and there were a host of differences between his finished painting and mine, it’s the painting I feel most proud of from that week and I went home feeling that I had finally learned a lot of what John was teaching. It just took me a while to work through a process to get to the beginning of my real learning curve.

Inishmacatreer After John Dinan

So what had I really gone through? Had I learned what I set out to learn from John’s guidance and excellent teaching?

I had begun by wanting to learn how to use the light to best effect, to create interest and life in the painting, not only with the darks and lights of shadows, but in guiding the eye to the core of the subject of the painting by the correct use of colour.

John’s wise words and suggestions will always ring in my ear and I’ll always try to achieve what he achieves, but what I really learnt this week was how hard it is to learn a different painting technique. It took me back to when I was five years old and, using flash cards, I was learning to spell. I just couldn’t remember the word “the” when it was flashed in front of me … I wanted so much to remember which word that pattern of letters made, I dreaded my mother’s grim face when I couldn’t remember, and finally tenacity won and the word became a familiar friend. Maybe, just maybe, it’ll happen with painting too, one day.

And here are the promised words by John Dinan:

A Tone, Atone ( with apologies to the Irish pun Ochon, Ochon)
I wondered last week, in the midst of a Portrait workshop, how many more times in my life might I utter the phrase 'lights and darks', or 'tonal range', or the short but demanding verb 'squint' !

Or should I stop teaching Art and save the world from these endless entreaties.

Having read Lynda's wonderful recollections of her week on my Landscape Painting workshop recently, I'm minded of the gulf that can invisibly divide Tutor and student, artist and fellow artist. In my teaching, I try to share the learning that's taken me over thirty years, in the hope that my students might fast-track their picturemaking skills to a point of expertise that took me so long.

Lynda has given a gem of an insight to the mental angst that any student might feel about even the most well-meaning tutor's advice and guidance. And also, how difficult it is to resist your natural impulses regarding such things as Colour, Texture or the like. That's why Art and picturemaking is so personal, so important to each individual student.

And that's why I try to be respectful of every studen'ts work, no matter how inexperienced she/he may be. I try to give practical advice on the process of picturemaking, and on what constitutes a 'good' painting - in terms of composition/design, light/dark pattern, colour scheme, movement etc, and within that I will try to work with a student's own personal style (if they have one). I've really no desire to create a class of clones, but I do believe that all good 'representational' paintings should have these elements properly developed.

All my students admit they recognise the difference between a local 'amateur' art exhibition and a professional artist's work, and I believe the difference is that the 'amateur' doesn't understand how to properly create a 'good' painting in terms of design, composition, colour planning, movement, use of line, centre of interest etc. On my workshops I try to explain these factors as clearly as possible, and get my students to practice them each day, so that by the end of the week they may have become more familar with them and hence be well on the road to being better painters.

Lynda has thrown up the dilemma when a 'student' attends my workshop and resists this process, either deliberately or by default to a comfort zone, to a familiar well worn way of painting. I guess there's only so much a tutor can do, after that it's up to the student how much they're prepared to let go, to trust, at least for the period of the workshop. After all, they can go back to their usual way of painting once the workshop is over, but of course I hope they will see the benefits of my approach and that they will continue on the process of painting I've taught.

In the meantime I've just one thing to say - Squint!
John

Turning the right brain left and keeping it right

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:55:00 +0000

As per the info below, I have agreed to give a talk and demonstration at a Meet For Real get together in Galway on 15 August 2009. Please make your booking now on the Meetforreal.com website - it'll for Euro3.00 cheaper if you do!

Venue : Galway City Museum coffee shop (in the museum itself at the Spanish Arch)
Time : 4.30 pm for 5 pm

To book : www.meetforeal.com

Lynda Cookson, Artist and Author based in Galway, has an impressive litany of experience combining artistic creation and business acumen. She will be giving a 35 minute talk, whilst demonstrating her technique of creating an oil painting, in the Museum Coffee Shop in Galway (at the Spanish Arch) on the 15th August 2009, at 4.30 pm for 5 pm. Throughout her own career, she has learned how important it is that the business life of an artist runs parallel with creativity; and also how handling business and promoting artistic work, can be just as creative as making the art. During the talk she will demonstrate how an oil painting takes shape, mainly using a palette knife, to show how building up your artistic business can be the same as building up a painting. Meetforeal events are about learning and sharing, but ultimately, they are a forum for people to meet like-minded people and have interesting conversations. Each event is different, and people from all walks of life to come along and participate, to enrich the discussion, to bring more ideas to the table, so everyone can learn something; share ideas, and meet people.

Tickets are 5 euro for Meetforeal members(free to join) or 8 euro at the door.
Email us at admin@meetforeal.com or call Adrian 0872889973
www.meetforeal.com

Twitter tag: #artwithlynda

HOW IT WENT ON THE DAY:

The venue was great, the organisation of the event was superb, the vibe was full of energy, my co-speakers were great .... what more could I want?! I only slapped one small dollop of white paint on the floor - which I had, thank heavens, covered with an old sheet in case of such an inevitable happening; and the smell of burning wasn't from the fire of my talk but from hot papers pasted over the spot lights (phew!).

The painting was begun, but not finished, and when it's been photographed (whether finished or not) I'll upload an image here. In the meantime, here's a great composite pic, taken by Ellen Dudley who, together with her partner Adrian, organises the Meetforeal.com events, of people on the day.

Watch out for the next Meetforeal.com event!

A Branch of Blooms

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:25:00 +0000

We were in Spain in October last year (2008) and I realised I just never learn! I hadn't packed any paints or canvases ... and yet again had to go and spend precious holiday money on painting equipment, so that I could sleep at night and not fret that I couldn't paint.

We were staying in a really great cottage in the hills outside the village of Torres, not far from Mancha Real, and about 40 minutes drive equi-distant from Granada and Seville. The weather was fantastic and the scenery breathtaking. Inspiring indeed.

This painting, 'A Branch of Blooms' was begun in Torres and completed in Galway. Sadly, it only lived in my gallery for two months before leaving me for the Cill Rialaig Pre-famine Village Residency Gallery in Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry, in the West of Ireland - where I spent two wonderful weeks at the end of January 2009. I miss it and wish I had taken better photos of it. Artists always battle to say goodbye to paintings!

The background was poured on. I mixed the paint with a puddle of good artist's turpentine in a wide, shallow, recycled mussel tin (from the supermarket in Mancha Real - I'm addicted to mussels!) Holding the canvas at a 45 degree angle over a pile of newspaper and old towels I used a 2 inch wide brush to apply a generous amount of the diluted paint on the ridge at the top of the canvas, allowing it to run down just more than half-way across the canvas. There's a bit of additional paint added further down to join a few of the rivers of paint but otherwise not too much fiddling was necessary to get the paint to go where I wanted it to go. I seem to remember that this background had a wash of pale blue, a wash of green and a third wash of the darker blue.

The vase and flowers were painted on, impasto, using only various sizes of palette knives.

It really excites me to use pure colours put together, side by side, or one on top of the other, on the palette knife ... and then to see how they make their patterns, lines and relationships for themselves on the canvas.

Take care 'til the next painting take me on impulse! :-)

My latest sale from my home gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:31:00 +0000

My latest sale from my home gallery. It's one of the M&M Milkshake abstracts, part of the abstract collection I developed while designing the logo for the 'Art in the West' exhibition in Galway in June 2005. It's mirror-image sister is still in the gallery.
Sale Price : Euro120
Size : A5 (half A4 or foolscap)

Purple Bowl of Sunshine

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:36:00 +0000

Purple Bowl of Sunshine
Price : Euro210 SOLD

A recent sale from my exhibition at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Galway.

Playa Chico (Beach Boy)

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:25:00 +0000

Playa Chico (Beach Boy)
Big painting (will have to measure it when it comes back from exhibition)
At present being exhibited at Radisson SAS Hotel in Galway, Ireland

Prints for Sale - donations to Cancer Research

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:31:00 +0000

These seven paintings have been made into prints, each one set on an A3 size satin finish paper.

Euro5.00 from the sale of each print is donated to Cancer Research ... a copy of the receipt from Cancer Research will be emailed to each purchaser.

They are priced at Euro25 each which includes postage and packing to Ireland and the UK. Elsewhere in the world and I'll have to give you a postage quote - as the prints are posted in tubes the cost is never too high.

Maternidad Amore (Maternal Love)

Bolus Head Spirit Party

Encarnado (Translated from Spanish = Red)

Cill Rialaig

Caballo de Vida (Horse to Life inspired by 'L'Chaim'

a Jewish toast to Life!)

Amarillo (Translated from Spanish = Yellow)

Daisy Violin

Amarillo

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:25:00 +0000

One of the paintings on show at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Galway from this Tuesday.

Summer Field

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:10:00 +0000

'Summer Field'
Digital image available for sale in various formats on
www.artocracy.org

This image sold as a PDF file to a Canadian company who used the whole image and parts of the image throughout their recent quarterly broadcast - published as hard copy.

To check out my other digital images for sale on the site please click on the link below and then click to view the aritsts list where you will find my name under the 'L' for Lynda :

www.artocracy.org

Moon Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:56:00 +0000

Moon Walk
482 x 603 mm
19" x 24"
each strip 76 mm (3") wide
Rolled acrylic on six strips of canvas set 1.5 cms (1/2") apart
Unframed (so therefore much more affordable!)
Price : Euro350 plus postage and packaging (nominal, as the painting will roll comfortably into a tube)

This is one from the Rolled Abstracts collection. 'Moon Walk' was created on strips of canvas secured a few centimetres apart with layers of paint rolled over a stencil design. By moving the stencils each time a new layer of paint is applied, a sense of movement and depth is given to the design. I'm building the collection up over a number of years with the intention of exhibiting once I have accumulated about 24 pieces .... selling them in the meantime doesn't help but then that's what it's all about!!! :-)

Neck and Neck

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 11:48:00 +0000

Neck and Neck
Oil on Paper
675 mm x 545 mm
26.5" x 21.5"

Painted as a demonstration of technique whilst running an art course at Castlerea Prison in February 2008. Taken from an image of two race horses during a race.

Caballo de Vida

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:16:00 +0000

Caballo de Vida
Oil on board

610 x 450 mm

24" x 18"
Price : Euro 2200

A Step Up

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:04:00 +0000

'A Step Up'
Watercolour pencil drawing, washed with water
11.2 x 16.5 cm
Framed in lime washed wood

This Little Piggy

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 13:29:00 +0000

'This Little Pipggy'
255 x 255 mm or 10" x 10"
Oil and charcoal monoprint
Price Euro250

The colours on this piece are far more vibrant than this image depicts .... the usual problem with photographing original art.

Ah, more art less comment .... it seems to be becoming a habit!!! Still, that's what this blog is about isn't it?

Happy 2008!!!
Lynda

Chosen Silence

noreply@blogger.com (Paintings On Impulse) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 10:18:00 +0000

Acrylic on Stretched Hessian and Handmade Paper
635 x 890mm or 25" x 35"
Price : Euro850.00

Painting uploaded to enable me to display it elsewhere as well.