The studio

My studio is situated near a number of Ring Forts, which date back thousands of years,an ancient ecclesiastical site and several wedge tombs. It looks towards the Great Skellig Michael, and faces west, in line for the most spectacular sunsets.

All this mystery and presence adds to the atmosphere in which I paint, and seeps into my consciousness. It is inevitable that the images which emerge from the canvases and paper have their origins in those elements. I would emphasise that the role of the artist is to allow those elements the freedom to emerge and that the creative act is one of flow.

I tend to work with my back to the view, however, as then when I turn around, it astonishes me once more. The light changes constantly, falling first on one hill or valley, then another, in beams on the sea like a spotlight, in shafts of silver on the horizon.
It truly is an artist’s paradise and probably the landscape I would have chosen if asked to describe an Arcadian vision (see ’Arcadia Found’ Atlantis to Arcadia Gallery ).

Watercolour & me.....
A painter has so much to choose from in terms of paints, pastels, charcoals, pencils, inks, canvas, paper, board etc, and yet it often comes down to a few favourite brushes, some stubbly bits of chalk or charcoal and a minimum number of tubes of paint to actually produce the great work.
For years I worked en plein air with an ancient paintbox, palette encrusted with old paint, well squeezed tubes, always replenishing the same colours, and always using the best paper I could afford. There is something about those lovely brushes that takes years to get them to do just what you want them to do. My favourite piece of outdoor equipment is still a board with a handle attached with a bit of copper wire (found in a field), that can be carried over fences or ditches with paper taped on.

Let water be water
It may sound obvious but it is a truth that must be truly arrived at. Moving from watercolour into oils is very liberating, as there is a whole new world of colour and texture to be explored. I’m glad though that I mastered the hardest medium first.