Duck Under Fire

duckChristmas Day paints in me Mam’s. A brass duck doorstop and a stove keeping us warm.

20x20cm oil on board.

Modern Man in Search of a Soul (Call of the Wild)

The-Holy-Grail-(Call-of-the-Wild)35x45cm oil on canvas.

Worked on this for quite some time not getting a handle on it to be honest so decided to stop painting at this stage.. That text on the book was punishing to paint.

This piece is based on the theme of ‘Go Wild’. I saw a painting by Conor Walton in which St. Patrick arrived to civilise the wild Irish Savage. Today, Modern Man in Search of a Soul(Jung) seeks out the old religions and their practices in his quest for a spirituality he has not found in the, now tyrranical, new religions. There is some evidence that suggests the origins of Christianity lay in mushroom cults of the Middle East. The Amanita Muscaria reminds us of the ‘Soma’ of the Vedic texts. Mature Muscaria fruit curls its cap upwards resembling a Holy Grail. Dried muscaria tastes like cardboard much like a church wafer. Muscaria were dried on fir and pine trees (some of the host trees for the mycellium) which could be where our Christmas bauble tradition comes from.

Could be a bit of a reach…..or completely true!

Rolling

Jiu jitsuCoupla lads training Jiu Jitsu down in Eastcoast Bray.. Didnt mean to paint the heads so out of proportionbut I was trying a different technique to start by loosely sketching with a turpsy raw umber and brush. Worked on it for quite some time bit by bit never really getting anywhere.

45x40cm oil on board.

Autumn Leaf

Leaf 1Oil on board 25x35cm approx

Dalkey Quarry Summer

100x50cm.
25+ hrs in the studio.
Embiggened from a plein air study I painted during the Summer.

Bray Head Path – Plein Air

bray head pathA pathway on Bray Head beside the steps. Lots of palette knife and thickness.

30x35cm.

Plein air oil on board.

Dalkey Quarry – Plein Air

Dalkey Quarry

Plein Air oil on canvas. 40x20cm.
 
2 sessions, hidden in a bush on a cliff-edge.
Might try and scale this one up in the studio on a larger canvas.

The Nihilist

The tough stare of a Nihilist pushing on towards some sort of noble stoicism.

Tough going. Disappointed in the result. May return to it at some stage.

Bit of a steal there from Boldini with that leaf.

Family of Toothbrushes

toothbrushes20x30cm
Oil on canvas

Tried to loose the cup within the background to focus on the toothbrushes.

The Last Croissant

croissant‘The Last Croissant’. After Conor Walton.
25x20cm oil on board.

Knocksink Woods Enniskerry – Plein air

woods3

Day 2 – Finished

woods2

Day 1

woods1

Block in of shadows

Oil on canvas.

40x20cm.

2 sessions. I blocked in using turpsy washes to establish basic values starting with the shadows(above).

Then went straight in with paint but not impasto, but getting thicker towards the end of day one. Day 2 was a bit thicker again starting with strengthening the shadows first. It didnt feel right to get as thick and layered as Andrew Gifford seems to. He seems to start impasto from the start I think.