Monday, March 28, 2011

Paint-Out in Clonegal

Our plein air group SEPA, had a paint-out in the picturesque little village of Clonegal yesterday. We were fortunate to get a beautiful sunny day, once the morning fog cleared. We had a lot of new faces at the paint-out, so our little group grows from strength to strength. I took it easy and just did two paintings, but I'm fairly pleased with both of them.

I did the first one at the river bank, facing the sun. Almost went blind with the sparkle on the water when the sun came out fully!

The Bridge, Clonegal
(12" x 10" Oil on Board)






The owners of the Castle in Clonegal were kind enough to allow us paint in the fabulous grounds, so I decided to "paint the obvious" in the afternoon. But it was really the strong backlighting which grabbed my attention.

Huntington Castle, Clonegal
(14" x 11" Oil on Board)








These are photos of both scenes:-













3 comments:

Unknown said...

Couple of beauties. The mist, the light, the detail in the backlit subjects, the recession are all handled in masterful fashion. I'm not sure that your second one is 'the obvious' for a lot of painters.

Michael McGuire said...

Thanks Mick. It was the first day this year that it felt "easy" (in the sense of not being a terrible slog!). I meant "obvious" in the sense of subject matter - my guess is that there are millions of snapshots of that view in the cameras of visitors to Clonegal!

Nick G. Swift said...

I, too, am drawn to bridges. The archways here read well and the dashes/dabs of light bounces of the water are magnificent!

nickgswift.com