Blog
Here you can find few tips about watercolor painting, exhibition news and my thoughts on life as an artist.
2020
2020 I was never a fan of summing up a year like it's some sort of book I just read and I have to give a book report. New year is just a date like any other and we can't just hit a reset button on Jan 1st as much as we might like to. But if I was to try and sum up...
Under September Skies
Under September Skies During the month of September I decided to create a painting a day. I also made the decision to extend my plein air painting season and so committed to paint all of them outdoors. This was of course with the best of intentions and I stuck with it...
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...
#portraitsforHSEheroes
Portraits For HSE Heroes #portraitsforHSEheroes is an initiative started on April 22nd by artist Bernadette Doolan who adapted the idea from an NHS version. It helps artists show appreciation for HSE front line workers. Participating artists would share on...
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...
Commission Process
Like most everyone now i have more time on my hands, a positive aspect of this is I can take more photos and videos along the way to show you my process. It usually starts as an emotional response to a picture, looking at reference photos, to developing an idea and ending by following through to painting.. Read More
Holiday painting
Holiday painting Over the years artists have always looked for inspiration in new places and nowadays is no different. As great as it is painting the same subject over and over, change is always welcome. And a new location always delivers on that. Holiday sketching...
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...
‘Corners’
'Corners' An exhibition of Gorey town paintings Summer 2019Gorey town is celebrating 400 years and I have been lucky enough to call it my home for the last 15 of those years. We are spoilt here with the surrounding beaches and beautiful countryside, but the town...
Plein Air Painting Talk
Dunmore East Recently I had the opportunity to paint alongside other artists from South East Pleiner society in Dunmore East. This was my first time there and I was blown away and absolutely mesmerised by this picturesque town.I set up my easel at the first location...
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...
Studio Move
Studio Move It's 4 years since I decided to become a full time artist. At the time I needed to revamp my website and also design a logo. I went with Kate Kos Studio as I thought at the time that I'd soon be moving out of my spare bedroom to a brand new studio...
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...
Art In The Open 2018 and Bronze Award
AITO 2018 Art in The Open is definitely one of the highlights of my art year. I seriously love this festival, and always look forward to when it starts. It's great for so many reasons but for me one of the best parts is the people. Old faces and new ones alike, it's...
Dublin Plein Air Painting Festival 2018
A week of joy! It's about two weeks now since Dublin Plein Air Painting Festival ended but this is the first real chance I've had to sit down and gather my thoughts. It would be so easy just to say it was a fun week and well done to all involved but that'd be like...
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,...
Herd
Deer Painting As I was finishing this picture, Paul was passing my studio and when he saw it he commented something like: -We're painting fantasy now? This comment surprised me but when I stood back and looked I could see where he was coming from. While not completely...
FabrianoinAquarello
Great News! Happy to report that my Venice painting will take part in Fabriano in Acquarello 2018 - an international watercolour exhibition in Fabriano, Italy May 3-7. I am part of polish team which among many other countries will participate in this years exhibition...
Painting seascape – time-lapse video
Watercolour seascape - time lapse video I've been experimenting with video recording for some time now and it is still away from where I want it to be. I think the issue is that to record it with good quality I need to be painting while sitting down, and I...
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,...
ArtSource
ArtSource 2017 I know its overdue but there is a good reason why I'm only writing about ArtSource now! It was such hard work and to be honest it took some time to get back to my usual rhythm and routine. Also there was a couple of commissions that I had put on hold...
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...
sea breeze – behind the scenes
Everything about 'sea breeze' Wow!! What a great opening night! Thank you so so much to everyone who attended my "sea breeze" exhibition's preview evening. It is great and humbling to know I have so many fans and supporters and friends, again thank you all so much!! I...
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...
‘Sea breeze’
'Sea breeze' exhibition To all my online followers and supporters: You are invited to my solo exhibition in The Gaslamp Gallery called 'Sea breeze'. It is a collection of 13 previously unseen watercolour paintings featuring the North Wexford coastline. This selection...
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...
Portrait of Rosa
White pastel portrait on black paper I haven’t done many portraits recently, as I’m trying to steer away from them. This one was done as a favour for a friend and I really enjoyed doing it. I happen to have new bright light in the studio which means that I can work...
Dublin Plein Air Festival
A Breath of Plein Air Wow! What a week! And I'm not talking about just the weather! I am talking of the fab week that was the inaugural plein air festival organised by Paul D'Arcy and supported by Fingal County Council and many other sponsors. And how well it was...
Free Watercolour Classes
Painting Classes in the garden Series of FREE watercolour painting classes coming up in Kimurry Nursery as a part of Wexford County Flower & Garden Festival. Classes will run daily at 10am throughout the week of festival (Monday 3rd July - Friday 7th July). This...
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...
Meadow Glory and Bloom 2017
Bloom 2017 This year I have the pleasure of showing my paintings at famous Bloom In The Park - Ireland's largest garden festival held as always in the center of Phoenix Park, Dublin. Avid gardeners from the four corners of Ireland will once again congregate on Phoenix...
The Red Gallery
Painting Poppies Painting lipstick red poppies is definitely one of my guilty pleasures. I think I have painted hundreds of them by now. And still love it. Somehow I cannot resist joyful display of color. It couldn't be more intensive and saturated. And in addition to...
Camellias – time lapse video
Camellias watercolor 42cm x 57cm Available Camellias, time-lapse video. Hope you will enjoy this time lapse video of how I painted Camellias. I had photographed these lovely blooms in Waterford and just had to paint them. I had changed composition a bit and added...
Buzz in Purple
Watercolor workshop As some of you know I spent the last weekend in Waterford at the first, and hopefully not the last, Art on the Island festival. Among the many activities on offer yours truly here had the pleasure of leading my first watercolor workshop and I have...
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...
Art On The Island
Waterford Castle Hotel On Saturday April 8th and Sunday April 9th 2017 I will have a pleasure to exhibit with fellow artists at Art On The Island event, which will be located on the beautiful grounds of Waterford Castle Hotel Golf Club. Below some links if you need...
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...
Gaura and a lovely day
International Women's Day Yesterday was an International Women's Day and for that occasion I have planed to paint and post a photo of a new floral painting. What better to share on that day then a painting of very delicate and feminine flowers. I had started painting...
‘With Love’ time-lapse video
Time lapse video (2 min) showing creation of 'With Love' watercolor painting. What better way to extend the life of your valentine's bouquet then painting it? “Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.”...
2020
2020 I was never a fan of summing up a year like it's some sort of book I just read and I have to give a book report. New year is just a date like any other and we can't just hit a reset button on Jan 1st as much as we might like to. But if I was to try and sum up...
Under September Skies
Under September Skies During the month of September I decided to create a painting a day. I also made the decision to extend my plein air painting season and so committed to paint all of them outdoors. This was of course with the best of intentions and I stuck with it...
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...
#portraitsforHSEheroes
Portraits For HSE Heroes #portraitsforHSEheroes is an initiative started on April 22nd by artist Bernadette Doolan who adapted the idea from an NHS version. It helps artists show appreciation for HSE front line workers. Participating artists would share on...
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...
Commission Process
Like most everyone now i have more time on my hands, a positive aspect of this is I can take more photos and videos along the way to show you my process. It usually starts as an emotional response to a picture, looking at reference photos, to developing an idea and ending by following through to painting.. Read More
Holiday painting
Holiday painting Over the years artists have always looked for inspiration in new places and nowadays is no different. As great as it is painting the same subject over and over, change is always welcome. And a new location always delivers on that. Holiday sketching...
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...
‘Corners’
'Corners' An exhibition of Gorey town paintings Summer 2019Gorey town is celebrating 400 years and I have been lucky enough to call it my home for the last 15 of those years. We are spoilt here with the surrounding beaches and beautiful countryside, but the town...