italy

Snakes and Flames

Snakes and Flames

When flames and snakes are your neighbours, they can't help but be part of the story. This rough, heavy-duty cotton canvas has been in my studio for probably eight years. It was unprimed, so I spent months applying thin layers of oil paint before it went anywhere. I like the dryness that comes from all that soakage and the roughness of the surface. There were wildfires near the sea, and you could see the glow of orange at night in the distance. I was grappling with a shape similar to the one I am painting here back in Ireland. I tried it again when I got to Italy, but it wasn't until I saw the shape as a flame that it unlocked itself. On some of the smaller landscapes, these flames appeared …

STUDIO VLOG | Does Water Dream of Falling

STUDIO VLOG | Does Water Dream of Falling

Routes are created by choices, taking you to known spaces or surprises. Paintings take many paths. When I start to work on a new canvas, I have no idea where it will go, literally and figuratively. So I take any chance to travel and bring my work with me in whatever form possible, like these paintings I started in Ireland and brought to Italy. I like the (long!) drive to Italy - it’s a great time for …

An Italian Water Scene

An Italian Water Scene

Painting is a moving thing. Describing that movement with words is difficult. I hope I can capture the major twists and turns of this piece with the help of some studio shots taking over whenever the words conk out. The canvas is Belgian linen. The scent of Belgian linen is up there in my pantheon of all-time favourite smells. It’s the olfactory equivalent of a cockerel crowing in the morning. A little bit of oil paint and it’s gone. I left the canvas untouched for weeks to hold on to that scent and packed it when I left for Italy last summer...

Shape Shadow Dreams

Shape Shadow Dreams

It probably sounds a bit iffy when I say that something came to me in a dream but last night something did. When I walked passed my paintings this morning an image I dreamt about came back to me. I ran over, took up a dirty oil paint brush and sketched it on the back of a canvas. Later, over coffee, I sketched the motif a ...