A Windy Morning in West Kerry

This studio painting is based on a small plein air study I did in West Kerry earlier this year. It was a wet, windy morning and about difficult as plein air can get before it becomes impossible. It was real fun to do a larger studio version without having to worry about the weather (or the large mountain ram who kept checking me out while doing the plein air!). I played around a lot with texture variation in this one to enhance the separation and distance between the foreground rocks and the sea below.

Rough Seas, Near Brandon Creek
(30" x 24" Oil on Canvas)

This is a detail showing the degree of texture in the foreground rocks (mostly knifework):-

Another West Kerry Painting

This is a large studio painting based on a plein air I did earlier this year. I laid the paint on in thick impasto strokes to depict the main breaking wave, as I felt it helped to capture the sheer power of it. I can still hear the loud bang every time a wave hit that rock!

Windy Afternoon, Clogher Head
(24" x 30" Oil on Canvas)

Here's a close-up to give some idea of texture:-

Summer Morning, Coumeenoole (West Kerry)

This is a larger studio painting, based on a small plein air done earlier this year. I made some minor compositional changes, but otherwise remained fairly true to the observed colour.

Summer Morning, Coumeenoole
(24" x 20" Oil on Canvas)

This is the original plein air painting and a photo of the scene:-

Altamont House Paint-Out

We had a group paint-out to the beautiful Altamont House and Gardens in Co Carlow yesterday,. We were blessed with a beautiful sunny day, but unfortunately limited painting time due to a late start and early closing time. Still I managed to do one painting. The photo has come out a bit blotchy for some reason. In particular the softer passages of the painting are less textured than they appear on the photo.

Autumn Sunlight, Altamont House
(14" x 11" Oil on Canvas)

This is a photo of the scene:-

Ballymaloe House Paint-Out

I joined a neighbouring plein air group for a paint-out at beautiful Ballymaloe House yesterday. It was a dull misty morning, but cleared up a little in the afternoon. I had to look hard to find some colour in the morning, but found these dahlias in the yard.

Dahlias, Ballymaloe House
(10" x 12" Oil on Board)

Since the sun was coming and going in the afternoon, I settled for this shaded corner of the garden for my second painting.

A Quiet Corner, Ballymaloe House

(14" x 11" Oil on Board)

Photos of both scenes:-

Back in the Studio

It's probably been over a year since I did my last studio painting, but I finally got the urge to do so a few days ago. This is based on a plein air painting I did earlier this year.

Towards Clogher Head, West Kerry
(20" x 24" Oil on Canvas)

A Day in Leighlinbridge

We had a group paint-out in the picturesque little village of Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, yesterday. Unfortunately, it quickly turned into a very wet and windy morning, but a local hotel kindly let us paint under the large umbrellas in their external dining area, overlooking the river and marina. I did my first painting while it was raining and was immediately drawn to the red and yellow boat. I still had to push the colours a bit for added impact.


"Standing Out from the Crowd", Leighlinbridge
(12" x 10" Oil on Board)

The sun came out for a short while in the afternoon, but it quickly clouded over, so I had to rely a lot on memory to complete my second one.

Afternoon Reflections, Leighlinbridge

(12" x 10" Oil on Board)

These are acouple of photos of the scenes:-