The Humours Of MacSearraigh – Exhibition

The opening of my good friend Kevin McSherry’s exhibition will be this Friday at 6pm at Sol Gallery, opposite Waterstones. We’ll be there to cheer him on and check out his amazing work full of quirky humour.

Kevin was recently pictured on the front page of the Irish Times (if ya don’t mind) so if you’re up for a bit of “da culture” this weekend  you could do worse than join us in there!

bog water landscape

I’m well ahead on the small paintings front and am almost finished preparing larger work for Christmas shows. More on that on Friday! This is one of a series on winter landscapes.

8×8 inch oil on canvas bord

new work at the bad art gallery

The final five paintings (you can see them all here) left for The Bad Art Gallery last night and you should be able to see all or most of them by Culture night, this coming Friday.

My old friend Kevin McSherry will be doing a painting demonstration in the window and that alone will be worth a look see.

Dr. Sketchy (part of the anti art movement of artists) will also be there on the night. Basically you can bring along a notebook and pen and you get to sketch burlesque dancers! It’s life drawing but with all the stuffiness taken away! Go on give it a go!

best bib and tucker

The painting above is one that I’m trying out and I like it so far. I’ve had to explain the title already so It’s obviously a bit obtuse. Basically the scene is rather grand and the cat is all puffed up in his “best bib and tucker” to meet the ocasion!

best bib and tucker 16×16 oil on canvas

loving hearing Italian spoken in the house again

We have two Italian students with us for a week. They’re two gorgeous Italian boys from the north near Milan (completley biased here as we love Italians) and it really is lovely to hear the language in the house again. We’ve had two Italian aupairs over the years who became very dear to us and we’ve been to Itally many times.  And… they brought really good Italian parmesan and biscuits with them. Mmmmm

If (I mean when – see, thinking positively like Oprah says) When I win the lotto I will buy a little house in Alassio in Liguria and paint outside on the terrace over looking the rocks and the sea.

Meanwhile….

Slinky Malini

The first painting of the new arrival. Not the first he has been in unfortunately but the first he has been the subject of. He was swatting something, actually I think he was just attacking the air for no aparent reason – kittens eh?

slinky malini 7×7 inch oil on gesso bord

waiting for my mojo

well it’s back to the business of creating today!  The show doesn’t open yet for another week or so but my direct involvement is over and it’s back to working away on my own work as well as on other projects that have had to take a back seat for a few weeks.

This morning I sat down with a cup of tea to write a to do list for the next six months and as usual scared the bejesus out of myself. There’s so much to do it’s scary. But it’s also really exciting.

I was reading Carol Marine‘s blog yesterday and she was talking about how when she has a break from painting she’s never very happy until she settles back into her stride and that usually takes a few days. I felt that today. It usually takes a day or two for my mojo to return but I know it will. I just need to wait and to paint while I wait.

Two Austrian students arrive in our house today for a week – (part of my burgeoning portfolio career). A first for us but looking forward to the extended family for the week.

Distant rain 

Distant rain 10x10inch oil on canvas