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 …

The First 30 Minutes

The First 30 Minutes

Painting in the winter morning sunlight feels fresh, and I am surprised at how much I am getting into this set of canvases. They are all the same size but have different textured linen. Some are raw linen and soak up everything, giving the effect of a chalk pastel. Others are stretched with this fine portrait linen which makes the paint giddy with the fluidity of movement. These paintings have an inherent memory of places and backgrounds. They might grow up to be…

A Landscape You Owned

A Landscape You Owned

I have no idea what the green shape is or where it came from, but there is a real calmness to it as it watches over the other shapes play. Many of these shapes start as drawings and eventually jump into the oil paintings. I remember that red line shell-like shape in the left-hand corner from a drawing I did on one of the silkscreens from Berlin. The dark sculpture shape in the top right-hand corner was in a series of ink drawings that I later tore up. It conjures up a ceramic, almost …

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 …

Sotheby's | The Age of Disposable Thumbs

Sotheby's | The Age of Disposable Thumbs

I hung out with this painting for a long time. It was worked on in three different studios as the world around it went into a spin. I started it in Berlin in 2019, later bringing it to a religious sculptors studio in Ireland. Then Covid chased us to a shed at the bottom of a tiny garden, where I finished it in May 2021. It's a painting about movement, pace, action, and contemplation. The title speaks volumes about the movement of mankind from …