ireland

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 …

Acrobats and Flowers

Acrobats and Flowers

This is the journey of “Acrobats and Flowers”, one of the oil paintings in my solo show currently on view at John Martin Gallery in London. I got really into painting these black linear shapes on a red canvas but ended up painting over it in the end. It gave me the idea of painting vertical lines as a central feature, and this is the canvas that absorbed …

Two Years Changing

Two Years Changing

I’ve been working on this painting since April 2019, almost two years. Not all the time. I face the canvas against the wall for long stretches in between painting sessions. I try to change the composition by turning the canvas sideways or upside down. The process is the only thing that remains constant. Today I decided to …

STUDIO VLOG | Green 72

STUDIO VLOG | Green 72

In this studio vlog, I am switching it up between shaping wax sculptures and working on large oil paintings. I made a huge patch of yellow oil paint, and you can see me using it on several canvases. I often paint on several canvases at the same time. Yellow is one of the first colours of spring. The plants outside have …