Tell a little bit about how you first got into creating art.
It was always there – even though Architecture was my first foray into drawing as a career, a career which included sign-writing, Illustration and trail management, painting and drawing was always on my mind. I was always painting in my head and as life went on I felt more and more that I had let this huge part of me go.
Many years later I finally returned to drawing, taking night classes at Crawford Art College in Cork, and an online Abstract Art course with Art2Life. These really gave me the confidence to say ‘yes, this pull to create is not going anywhere!!’, and so I began to paint in earnest and look to make a new life as a painter. I have never looked back.
In my work, I try to bring the sense of movement / light / elements to the painting
What artists or movements have had an impact on you?
The post-impressionist art movement in Irish Art is something I have loved since learning Art history in school. Their unique record of life and landscape in rural Ireland captured an atmosphere and movement that no photograph at the time could do. I think I am still attracted to this idea, to reflect contemporary landscape and life, but in doing so to capture a feeling of the time and place, the movement of sea and clouds, or the stillness of the misty dawn.
What themes does your work involve?
I live in a very rural area on the Atlantic coast of Ireland and the impact of the weather and the sea and its ability to overpower all that man has created is very appealing to paint. Working for a number of years in the hills and mountains of West Cork as Trail Manager led to a deep love and respect for wild places and plants. This work taught me that you can fight with nature or work with her, but nature WILL overcome with time. The power and beauty of nature is a compelling theme, as the effects of nature and the elements on my surroundings inspires daily.
my goal is to follow my instincts, to keep testing my own skills so that the work evolves
What is important to you about the visual experiences you create?
I have an emotional response to the scene or subject that inspired me, and if a viewer has an emotional response in return, then that for me is a successful painting.
In my work, I try to bring the sense of movement / light / elements to the painting. This is where I find excitement, the challenge to create movement with colour and marks.
What is your favourite art accident? Did it change your perspective?
I have come to the comforting conclusion that through failure comes great learning and better creativity. Last summer I was preparing a piece for an exhibition (West Cork Creates), and some of my ideas were not working how I had imagined. I was
starting to panic and was very stressed. So, to combat my dwindling confidence I decided to just do some small sketches of ideas, with a focus on composition, marks and value, and only the memory of the original inspiration.
The resulting sketches were a significant breakthrough, as they had the movement and freedom I was looking for. They then formed the basis of the larger paintings for this exhibition. Sometimes I still have to remind myself to do this, not to get caught up in the detail and to take more risks. Risks don’t always work, but the process brings so much more.
Do you have any artistic goals for the future that you would like to share?
I feel I am only beginning, only scratching at the surface of what will develop in the future. Of course I hope to bring my work in front of more people, but having said that my goal is to follow my instincts, to keep testing my own skills so that the work evolves. And on a practical matter, my 2023 goal is to launch my website, so an exciting year ahead.
What do you consider the role of an artist today?
There is a multitude of roles available for an artist or creative person, be it highlighting social justice, or to simply creating a thing of beauty. Although I seem to lie somewhere near the latter role, I am a huge fan of Street Art, whose role perhaps encompasses all of the above. Perhaps the most important objective of Street Art is that it brings beauty and cultural commentary to everyone. While the introduction of mobile phone apps has brought art to many, you have to make a conscious choice to see this. With Street Art - you cannot ‘scroll’ past a building mural, you must look and you must see.
