ireland wrap up
I'm home after nearly five weeks on the Emerald Isle, and its true that there are at least forty shades of green, all of them rich and intense. But I was a bit surprised by the equal number of shades of gray and all manner of rusty browns and reds among the rocks, moss, lichen and fall foliage. The paintings I did there reflected this palette, and the textures of the landscape, which often manages to simultaneously be both gentle and rugged...the photo above, taken in The Burren, County Clare, illustrates this perfectly. Stone fences bordering softly glowing green fields, with a rocky mountain in the distance that appears smoothly worn.

Ah, I miss it already. I found both Ireland and Northern Ireland to be exceptionally friendly, welcoming, comfortable places to visit, and I'm especially grateful to have been able to live and work for three weeks as an artist-in-residence at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in County Monaghan. This length of time allowed me to relax into the ambiance and culture of this "epicenter of loveliness" as one of the workers there called it. (See posts from the past weeks for more description of my time there.) Below is the third of the three medium sized paintings on panel that I completed during my residency (Annamaghkerrig, 48"x36"):



I also worked on a number of acrylic paintings, most of which I brought home incomplete--but I'm sure the visual impressions of Ireland will be with me for a long time and help me to finish those and more. I'll be in a two person show at Elaine Erickson Gallery in Milwaukee in April (with Allison B. Cooke) which will give me the opportunity to exhibit some of the work inspired by my time in Ireland here in the US.

Below is a shot of the end wall of the gallery space devoted to my work at Gormleys Fine Art in Dublin--the show is still up for a few more days.



Exhibiting in Dublin gave my time at Tyrone Guthrie a focus--the show came at the very end of my residency. But fortunately this seemed to stimulate me rather than stress me out. I knew I'd have enough anyway, with work I'd already shipped over for the show...but it was a personal goal to have at least one decent sized painting that I'd done in Ireland on exhibit. Turned out I had two--the one in the center above, and this one, Faddan More, 48"x36":



A few more photos from the opening, and the exhibit:





It was a thrill to exhibit in another country, and I actually had friends at the opening so it was a good time--several people I'd met at the Tyrone Guthrie center, a Facebook friend from Dublin, and of course, Janice Mason Steeves, the friend who shared time with me at the residency.



What a lovely time it all was (people in Ireland say "lovely" a lot.) I will keep my memories and impressions of a beautiful, ancient and mysterious landscape, and the smiles and good cheer of the many wonderful people I met along the way. I expect that my thoughts and paintings will continue to reflect this experience for some time. I'll leave for now with one more photo from the Irish landscape, this one taken in Kilarney National Park in County Kerry:

  ¶ 6:58 PM