toil and trouble

The aftermath of Halloween is all around me here.  Last night was great fun, we had our own three plus some extras so we were 5 adults and 7 kids for spooky blood and guts pasta, burnt butter bonfire cupcakes,  barmbrack, witches fingers and of course trick or treating afterwards. 

aoife’s intuition

A new larger interior 24×24 inches. The name came about because I had been pouring over reference photos and sketches one afternoon in preparation for an interior composition the next day. My daughter looked through them all and picked out the exact one I had decided on. Does that say more about me or her I wonder?

Whoohoo we’re off to London!

The girls and I are taking an early morning flight to London tomorrow morning, not bringing much more than a toothbrush and a smile! We will stay overnight in a posh hotel (thanks to a great deal on priceline.com, Brian’s top tip) and return on the last flight on Wednesday. We’re going to catch a show (the war horse) and suck as much life out the big city as we can in 48 hrs! The girls are almost as excited as I am. My Dad took my sister and I to London when we were around the same age and I can’t wait to do the same with mine. 

Here’s a taster of the War Horse just to make you really jealous!

green with envy

This larger painting is one of the recent selection that’s now in the Killarney Art Gallery.

Green with envy 20×20 inches oil on canvas

an overeager model

A couple of you have asked how Slinky Malinky and I are getting on.

Well it seems he has learnt his lesson regarding wet paint and generally gives the danger zone, where my palettes lie, a wide berth. So that’s good, however, another issue has begun to raise it’s head.

It’s true that I have painted him in the past and probably will do again, but his presence is not required in every painting! He thinks if I leave the easel for a minute that I may not notice him on my return and just paint him into the painting.

apple cider

a small still life painting from yesterday. 7×7 inch oil on gesso bord

yesterday was a red dot day!

Green Apple Punctuation is off to a new owner somewhere and I hope it’s very happy with them!

Killarney Art Gallery have sellected another 8 paintings to replace those that have sold. I’m working on new paintings for the Whalley Gallery up north and Kenny‘s in Lahinch. Once those are in the bag it will be straight on to working on new work for the Bad Art Gallery’s Christmas Show and Killarney Art Gallery’s Christmas Show.

Honestly, I don’t recognise my life from a year ago. I couldn’t even have hoped for it. And it’s great to be busy!

since pussy was a cat

Now if you’re not from Northern Ireland you’ll be wondering what on earth that title is all about. I can’t find it anywhere on the internet (that’s a first!) but my mother-law from the north uses this expression. She uses it in the same way as we might say “since the year dot” or “since before time”.  I love these local expressions. Another good northern one is  “go get on ya” which means go get dressed or get your clothes on. Rob’s granny had a great one she used about her wee dog. “He runs round like a masty” no one to this day has been able to tell me what a masty is!