Newtownbarry House Paint-Out

We had a group paint-out at beautiful Newtownbarry House, Bunclody, yesterday. After a beautiful, sunny day on Saturday, yesterday was disappointingly overcast and damp. However, the gardens at Newtownbarry House are stunning, regardless of the weather, so I made the best of the conditions and really enjoyed the day. I decided to concentrate on painting foliage with expressive brushwork.

For my first one, I was really drawn to the lovely mixture of reds and greens in the shrub on the left. I decided later to add the distant figures, both to echo these colours and give a sense of scale to the painting.

Towards the Sunken Garden, Newtownbarry House
(14" x 11" Oil on MDF Board)

For my second one, I decided to concentrate again on foliage:-

Above the Sunken Garden, Newtownbarry House
(14" x 11" Oil on MDF Board)

Here are photos of both scenes, taken before I started:-

Open Air Concert

A very enjoyable day yesterday, when some of our plein air group were invited to paint at an open air concert featuring some of Ireland's leading singer/songwriters. The weather was a bit mixed, mostly overcast with a few showers, but the crowd were in a good mood and the performers seemed to enjoy the fact that one of our number painted them while they were on stage. Yours truly focused on the crowd enjoying themselves.

For my first one, I was drawn to the brightly coloured refreshements tents and the reflections in the adjoining lake.

"Enjoying the Barbecue", National Heritage Park, Wexford
(14" x 11" Oil on Board)

For my second one, I made my way up towards the main stage. The crowd seemed to be enjoying themselves, so I decided to paint them. It helped that the sun cam out for about a half hour or so. Got to chat to to some of the performers afterwards too which was fun. I think they were intrigued to see painters instead of photographers at their gig!

Enjoying the Concert, National Heritage Park, Wexford

(12" x 10" Oil on Board)

Forgot to bring the camera, so unfortunately no photos this time.