Blog - Thoughts
Rose Petals
Rose Petal Picking My mum used to make jam filled doughnuts. They were the most delicious doughnuts I ever tasted and her secret was that she would add wild rose petals to the jam.There was a pink wild rose growing in our neighbourhood so whenever she was making jam...
Staying Home
Staying home. Here I am writing this post at the end of April, when I should be spending most of my time outdoors, creating or seeking inspiration. Walking, taking pictures but now, like everyone else, I'm confined to quarters. As the pandemic started I was staying...
2019 Farewell
2019 I am a bit late in saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new!2019 was a year of ups and downs, but I think more ups than downs.Looking back now at the amount of work I created I can see how busy I really was and I think it's all thanks to my new...
Social Media
Social Media I just found out today that over 400 hours of video content is added to YouTube every minute. That's over half a million hours per day. And that's just YouTube , imagine what's uploaded on Facebook , Instagram etc!? Too much for any one person to look at...
Gorey Mural
The day It was a fine day about three weeks ago, one of the first this year that I gathered my bits and pieces and moved my studio to Gorey Civic Square albeit temporarily. I was on a mission and had a mural to paint so armed with bottles of paint, rollers, brushes,...
How long it takes to finish a painting and a privilege of buying art
privilege of buying art I have never bought an original piece of art. Shocked? It's not because I don't want to, of course I do! I am a painter, I love art , I look at art either online or in galleries every single day, and not because I have to, but because I want...
Studio Update
Studio update It's been over a month now since the official opening of my studio and it is fair to say that I am well settled in! To begin with in December i was open 6 days a week but since the new year I changed opening times (see below) to accommodate morning...
2018 Recap
2018 So a few days late but the time has come to say goodbye to the year that was 2018. How does one measure or assess a year? We all have our own ways whether it be checking bank balances or even counting any extra lines on your brow! But for me it's what I've...
Advent Art Calendar
Art Advent Calendar It's December 2nd so that means 24 days till Christmas. I'm going to have to be honest with you - I'm not a big fan of Christmas. Not the day itself mind you just the whole build up. The nearly 2 months of seeing Christmas decorations, listening to...
Sketching on holidays
This year's holiday seems like a distant memory now that I'm back to work but it was only a few weeks back. Like most years we went to Italy, camping outside Venice, but this year we went all out and managed as well to have a short break ahead in Bologna and Florence...
Watercolor v Acrylic
Golden Waves Although at this stage I'm painting with watercolor for over 10 years, and on the other hand acrylic is a relatively new adventure for me, I can honestly say that i love both acrylic and watercolor equally. Acrylic lets me work on one piece for longer,...
Cheers to a New Year
2017 Here we are at the end of another year and as is the norm time to look back on the year that was or in this case reflect on my artistic year. Another year as a professional artist and I have to say I'm happy I took the plunge into this fantastic world of art,...
A thousand words
Ever heard the expression "you look but do not see"? This got me thinking about what we see when we look at a painting. If you asked a dozen people to look at the same painting would they all see the same thing? Naturally they'd all be looking at the same picture but...
Bales of Hay
Summer is gone! I'm not a farming expert and don't pretend to be but at the end of each summer I see the fields of golden barley disappear to be replaced by fields of bales and they always remind me of big pillows. Like the fields are getting ready to sleep, silly I...
The Giving
The Giving I've been thinking lately about my paintings. Thinking about how yes I enjoy painting but like giving a present is it the giving? Or the present? Or the look on the persons face when they open the gift? I know I'm not giving stuff away here, a girls got to...
Forever Young
Forever Young I recently painted a picture called "forever young". It was part of my sea breeze exhibition, or to be more precise it was the star of the exhibition!! It was my signature piece , a beech scene with two kids playing in the water (it was my daughter and...
Pink Candy Wrappers
Pink Candy Wrappers They say every cloud has a silver lining, for me the dark clouds and rain means time to catch up on correspondence. For this whole day of miserable weather I was working on catching up on social media, emails, pricing commissions and wrapping a few...
Small Pleasures
Small Pleasures Today I thought I'd talk about my small acrylics. Over the last few weeks the weather has been a little better than the norm I've spent a lot of time at the beach. Now normally I'm a watercolour girl but recently I do indulge in acrylics and in...
Portrait bible
Portrait Revolution - The Portrait Bible I received this book today, and I'd like to share the story behind it. For those of you who have the book you might have noticed there is a small portrait done by me in this book, it is on page 32 (photo below) It was drawn on...
Thoughts after Bloom and new exhibition news
Bloom! Bloom!!! Where do I begin? I know it's been two weeks but it feels longer and I'm only just getting back to normal!! The show itself was only 5 days but the preparation was months!! For those of you who have never heard about it, a quick recap. Bloom is the...
Sea, waves, boat and painting
Rhythm of the waves This painting is a commission I did recently. Now I always relish the challenge of painting water, but this one I particularly enjoyed. A little history first, about two weeks or so before painting this I decided I'd head out for my first plein...
Mum’s Garden
Painting Roses I decided to name this new painting 'Mum's Garden' . I didn't have any recent pictures of her garden and my memories of our garden from my childhood is of vegetables and fruits rather than flowers. Different days friends. Anyway I used multiple...
All about green
St Patrick's Day I've been in Ireland now 13 years and each year I'm still amazed at the excitement and atmosphere on st "paddys" day, this year even more so as it's on a Friday so we have a long weekend thrown in as well!!! So in the spirit of the day Happy st...
How to name a painting
Naming a painting I have always struggled when it came to naming a painting And until recently, I have always felt bad about it like it was a flaw or my fault in some way, I painted it, why can't I name it? Somehow I was always lacking the words when it came to naming...