I delivered and was paid for the painting today.
I am happy, debts are now paid off..bank account in credit again.
I did a few bits in the studio, finishing the Cherry Tree painting.
It has been snowing today, there is more forecast, and it was starting to stick. With the cold of the evening it will probably build up over night...

Here is the painting of the Cherry Tree


















Here is the view itself, Slightly whitened with the snow....

Art supplies, and supplying Art...

I have done a little more work on the painting- but spent very little time painting today. I meandered into Kennedy's Artist supplies this morning...I then spent more than I should...(what's new)..and then had lunch at home. I got to the studio about 3, did some work and then had someone drop in to enquire about a painting she had seen before....It is presently hanging in my house. I spent an hour or more with the customer, and arranged to take the painting from my house and a few others over to her house tommorrow evening for a 'family' viewing as the customer wants help to choose which one.....that is what happens when there is time to browse without the item you really wanted, what about this one? that one? the other?...I don't relly mind though. I have sold one of them! and maybe more if I am lucky....the client does want to invest in more at a later stage anyway...she has been saving up for the original one she wanted....
....It is nice to know someone appreciates your work enough to save up for it....and then comes back hoping you still have it. I may be able to spend MORE money on materials next week.....

I started a painting of the view of the cherry tree from my studio window. The blossom is starting to appear and I can see spring approaching.

The picture to the left is of a previous painting I did of the tree in winter, looking out to the Wicklow hills beyond. This was purchased by the family of a regular Patron, for a present for him.

The painting I have started work on is a tighter detail and will focus on the cherry blossom rather than the view.

It is still very cold here, 3 or 4 degrees centigrade, that is well below our normal temperatures for this time of year. We are affected by a drift of the North European air coming S-East, wheras normally we would get more weather from the S-West across the Atlantic, lots more rain, but not as cold...Here in Ireland we get a damp cold, not like central Europe or America, it gets into your bones...roll on Summer....

The Ring of Kerry...

Well I'm back from Belgium...I enjoyed my lunch..but it was a little too cold for doing much walking etc. around the city. We generally wandered around a few shops, had a few cups of coffee, indulged in Chocolate and had a pleasant if rather long day. (A 4.00am start for the airport) I didn't get up too early yesterday needless to say. I didn't go to the studio until the afternoon. I was at an Angling Club AGM. last night, and then had a couple of drinks, so that is why I didn't update you yesterday. However yesterday I started the work that I 'finished' today.
I decided to rework a study of the Dingle peninsula in Kerry, It was an interesting view with the patchwork of fields, painted in one sitting. The original study was quite pleasant except for the rather muddy gorse flowers added onto wet green paint in the foreground, but as usual with quick plien-air works the idea is to execute the work there and then, so niceties like allowing the base to dry for a day or two go out of the window...

The first step I took was to simplify the patchwork of the fields. I did this by reducing the number and increasing the size of the fields. I then added in a copse of trees to re-create the


scale for the middle ground. I left out one of the houses, I had left out lots of them in the original study anyway as they were dotted here and there amongst the fields but I found they cluttered the painting. I then started work with more muted cooler colours, creating an almost ethereal air about the work. The bushes in the foreground are quite stylised, although the photograph is too dark in this area to show the work very well.
Both paintings incedently are 18 inches by 14. Todays is painted on a piece of unstretched canvas as I intended using it as a work-up rather than a finished painting. This situation may change though as I find a lot of interest in the work and I may decide to keep it as a completed work, if so I'll have to mount or stretch it later.
I have also stepped in and out of the Large Castri painting, but the work I have done would not show in a photo as such since it is just minor work here and there. This will go on for a few weeks yet...

Castri Window painting....and tommorrow's Dinner

This is where I had left the painting.

I continued with the buildings, such as the Doumo itself, repainted lighter, greener and of course more detailed. This was done without going into fine architectural detail though, as I needed to keep it loose in keeping with the rest of the work.

Here you can see the area, note the sky (altered) & verandas that have been added in on the other buildings..

Here are details of the stonework buildings, detailed areas finished off........continuing the confusion amongst the flat areas....

I finished the garden with another palm tree to the bottom right, but this one was painted much more subtley in cool blue-greens, just enough to break and confuse the linear aspect of the path etc.
There is enough perpendicular movement to negate the tendency of the eye to leave the canvas.


I have also added a dark green strip for the shutter and greyed down the edge (Inside Window) of the canvas....though the details are still not added...










...and here is the whole at the moment...note there is more work on the sky itself......giving life to the sky and now helping the whole painting to tie together...




As for tommorrows Dinner...I'm off to Brussels in the morning, Christine is taking me out for a sea-food dinner, via Ryanair...It beats the chipper anyway.....

Happiness is....

I have done a lot of work to my Castri window painting, but I forgot my Camera again!!
I am almost finished. I have reworked the sky, reworked most of the buildings and finished the garden. I even have done work on the 'window' to the right.
I know I am 'there'.........It has come together........I am very happy with it.

I will photograph it on Monday..(unless I'm up in the studio tomorrow) and upload a pic. I will leave the details of what has been done until then.
I will probably go see my Mother tomorrow as I have neglected her this week...I've had a busy week. On Monday I need to go into a gallery to organise a group show, and I need to get a bottle of liquin. A few canvases or maybe some timber for another large stretcher won't go amiss either.

Until Monday....

The new season is away...

Well after a 4 hour+ trip to Oughterard, a day on the Lough and a 5 hour drive back I was exhausted...and fishless...LOL.
The weather wasn't too bad when fishing, a little blustery. The trout were not in a taking mood though. I think the lake had risen too much in the last week (after the rain) and put the fish off. I didn't find any fly anglers with fish (bar one Kelt) although the trolling anglers did seem to catch a few fish. I had two fish follow one of my flies but they turned away without taking as the flies got near the boat. I haven't had a blank opening day in a long while though so I'm not going to complain, at this time of year it is always going to be hit & miss...the main thing is I enjoyed the day...spring is here...now I am looking forward to the opening of Lough Ennel on March the 1st.....

A New Season.....

Where does the time go.....
Today I got nothing done....too much running around. Tomorrow is St. Valentines day...so I'm booked for the day by U no hoo........
Wednesday I'm off across to lough Corrib for the first day of a new trout fishing season..so I guess I will do nothing in the studio before Friday. I leave for Galway at 4 am wednesday morning, fish all day, eat something about 7 or 8 that evening, chat with old friends etc. for a couple of Hours then drive home again. That means 2 am. at the earliest, usually nearer the 4 am. again. Thursday I sleep!! at least for a large part of the day...

BYE.....

Here are two updated photos... as you will see I have done some work on the sky.
I also brightened the Doumo Dome....re did many of the roofs, as I decided they were too broken up, some are painted solidly, but some just have a glaze to reduce the variations, I left the large roof over the brown building behind the eucalyptus tree as it was because it really compliments the brickwork. I also like the way this carries on the contradictions that abound throughout the garden. I have done a couple of the window details throughout, just to give the definition for myself, but I had to stop as the windows were getting difficult due to the wet paint on the roofs around them. It has to be

remembered eye level is about half way up the canvas, so anything above that line means I am either reaching or I need to drop the canvas lower which is uncomfortable then as I am stooped for much of the lower areas....

For this reason I decided to leave the rest of the base work on the other windows(&doors) until laterso I can work without worrying about catching paint with a sleeve etc. I painted the door and windows on the left a cool green, both to carry the colour theme and to contrast the warm whites. The windows and door are doing there work well, as your eye drifts left, they shout STOP! and still allow your eyes to wander back into the warmer greens.. There is a danger that the painting is splitting down the center at the moment, due mainly to the lack of foliage/greens in the central portion of the canvas, add this to the palm tree trunk and solid line of the orangerie walls I can see trouble ahead if I'm not careful.... I am hoping the base areas of the garden..paths & gravel...will help cure this when I decide how to proceed with them that is..I think I may have to rethink my colours here....................

of Flake white and other things....

I didn't get any work done today...again...
However I did get into town..and into Kennedy's Artist supplies...I managed to spend quite a few euros too...
I have a LOVELY 200ML TUBE of FLAKE WHITE....yippeeee!!! it's amazing what you find when you aren't really looking....now I've two lots of flake, enough to keep me going until we get a realistic replacement I hope..... I also popped into the Dawson lounge and said Hi...I haven't been in for quite a while....and I also left in my receipts for my Grant...so hopefully I'll get it in the next month...solvency again.

Yesterday was spent having my Van serviced and roadworthiness test done. It passed with flying colours thank god!. I couldn't afford to replace it at the moment. I never did get back to the studio, by the time all was done it was 4.30, by the time I would have got to the studio it would have been after 5 pm. Today I was helping out a friend, as I am booked to do tommorrow again...so Friday is the first chance I'll get to work in my studio. I will have to Tax my van first, as it is due over 1 month ago...but I needed to get the Roadworthiness certificate to tax it...yet I still had a month on my cert when I went to tax it...but the minimum taxable time is 3 months and they wouldn't tax it over the cert!!
Bureacracy gone mad as usual, I paid to have the test, now I'll have to pay to have the cert issued...then I can pay the tax and arrears...on top of insurance, running costs, god knows how much duty on fuel.......it's a neverending money pit.... By the way, Fuel prices here are about 1.05-1.09 Euro a litre about $1.30 per litre or $6 a gallon.... enough now I'm getting depressed...

I did some work today, but again I'd forgotten my camera!!. Briefly, I finished the main foliage areas in the center of the canvas, leaving just the palm tree on the bottom right and the portion at the bottom left. I also did more work on the buildings and roofs. I think I will rework the sky in the morning and then continue with the buildings. I am happy so far, but the straight lines on the buildings are so weariesome..I hate straight lines..LOL..
One small problem is that the canvas is a little too slack for the fine line work that I need to do on the roofs etc. so I may need to tighten it again unless the weather warms up and does it for me.

I should have pics tommorrow..but I have my van booked into the garage tomorrow morning for a service, then I need to get it certified as roadworthy again so I can tax it,.....more expenses..

Another fruitful day, painting in the studio

I had a busy day in the studio again. When I went in I reworked the brick buildings, adding texture to the walls, so that they will be dry before I move to the roof tiles. That done, I did a lot of work on the foliage behind the rear of the garden, along with an overpainting of the 3 palms in the corner of the garden itself. I also brightened the lemons around the boundary wall. I added more darks to the foliage below the eucalyptus and added 2nd & 3rd layers around the pond area. I also reworked the Orangerie and added the foliage and a few oranges to the pots.
I then worked the trees centre left, the nearer tree will be the next item worked on after I finish the palms. Three of which have the darks added,

and I totally finished the main central one. Another day and I think the piece will really take shape. I know what I want, and I hope it will come together very shortly.

The next step will be the sky after the palm trees, followed then by the final work to the skyline andthe roofs. That will only leave the gravel areas and minor adjustments, before I finish with the window frame on the right hand side.

This is the painting as it was when I last left it. As you can see I did some work on the foliage center right and the Eucalyptus tree on the left. I also darkened part of the pathways to the right. (I have darkened all the paths now) As I had said I repainted the sky area, It is a solid blue at the moment though, awaiting some life from the 3rd working. I also lay the same blue into the water of the pond.

Today I managed quite a lot of work on the painting, a solid layer on most of the remaining buildings, white tinted with either blues, yellows or peach depending on the light level I wanted.


After painting the white wall areas I was led into the roof of the Orangerie which had been blocked in too short, so I repainted that, there is still an edge showing in the photo, so it will need another layer yet. I also worked on the wall of the Orangerie and whitened the facia under the roof.
I continued on with the same area, painting the pots... which led me onto the others dotted around the garden... and then I lay another coat on the interior of the Orangerie, this then will allow me to paint the Orange Trees in the pots

next week. I then brightened the greens on the lawns, darkened the remaining pathways...unfinished on Tuesday... and I altered the gravel areas, these still need a lot of adjusting though, but they are at least 'clean' now after the areas that were overpainted have been obliterated....

...finally I did some more work on the rooftop patio bottom left, and a little on the path beside it. I also did the same on the roof above the patio.

Here are two details, The 1st is of the Eucalyptus Tree, the 2nd is the combination of the tree with the patio an roof work. This is interesting in that I have used the same strokes or marks for both the leaf effect as for the tiles but at totally different angles...ie. vertical & horizontal, coupled with the strict regimented marks of the flat surfaces and the wavy rounded marks that roll out and down from the tree top. This ties the two areas together, and yet, clearly delineates the living from the inanimate. This contrasts with the differences in the treatment of the foliage on the right, the grass and the topiary speres are painted solidly, while the palms are loose and feathery. These solid spheres add a focal point in the garden while enhancing the other foliage painting. I am starting to create a nice feeling ofcontrast and contradiction in the work. This will add to the interest.


I am looking forward to getting back to it tommorrow.

The Painting & Poker night.

I forgot the camera on Wednesday!!, and I did not manage to get to my studio today. I recieved a phone call from a friend this morning that required my assistance for the day. So assistance was given of course. However I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to my painting tomorrow.. I have the sky repainted, it still requires more work though, and part of the garden and trees re-done, in fact some are almost finished. I have to start on the buildings tomorrow though as it will take quite a while to do them. I hate straight lines...LOL. I have just stuck the digi camera in my pocket so I will have it tomorrow.

Oh! the poker classic... I survived for the first half, but near the final group I was quite low on chips so I had to get reckless for the last couple of hands to earn enough chips for the final round (there was no point in starting off in trouble). I lost. But I did enjoy myself and still got most of my entry fee back as I'd taken a few scalps on the way, and each scalp was worth a few euros..
Mind you I spent quite a bit on a few beers too, but a good night out was still under 40 euro, and a few laughs as well. ....yeah! I don't take the poker too seriously... not any more anyway..I like to have fun. Gambling doesn't pay, so I expect to loose what I gamble with, so losing doesn't hurt and I can enjoy the craic- Irish for fun- ... ce la vie....