I have drawn or painted in some shape or form for as long as I can remember.
I studied industrial design for 3 years upon finishing high-school, thinking it
would give me a strong base course to work from and thereby giving me a wider
range of career options. However in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the face of the design world was
gradually veering towards the computer age with the introduction of CAD,(Computer
Aided Design) which largely took away the free hand element, and with it, my interest.
I grew up in the west of
Ireland
, well known for its field dividing stone walls, rocky coastline, fishing lakes
and cold weather. In 1985, at the age of 15, I moved with my family to the sunny
south east, an awkward age for such a dramatic change. My parent’s families were both from the south east of
Ireland
, so it was a long awaited return to our family roots.
In 1998 I turned professional and received national recognition and success for
my artwork. In 2007, an opportunity presented itself to move to
South Carolina
and we made a family decision to relocate. We based our decision on extensive
research done over several trips to
South Carolina
over a 1 year period. We found the people of
South Carolina
to be very warm and welcoming, so mixed with our kids’ enthusiasm, opportunities
and a strong artists community we found the move a positive one.
I come from a very strong farming background and have worked in farming for many
years. Farming has given me a rustic approach to my work. Anyone who has ever
worked in farming knows it can be a messy, difficult, hard, but very rewarding
life. I like to incorporate this approach into my landscapes, in particular paintings
featuring animals. This approach is also useful in my portrait paintings, where
imperfections need not be looked on as flaws in a person’s facial features, but
are part of that person, good, bad or indifferent, it’s part of who they are.
At a young age I was introduced to the works of Dutch artist Jan Vermeer, (see
- “Girl with the Pearl Ear -ring”), and English landscape artist John Constable,
(see- “The Hay-wain”). These artists were a very strong influence on me, and gave
me a very strong foundation on which I base a lot of my work. Vermeer was famous
for his use of light, while Constable was famous for his landscapes of the English countryside usually with farming livestock, and he was self taught.
My style of painting is very much a representational one with a specific emphasis
on the everyday things we can sometimes take for granted. Natural and various
types of un-natural light, how it reflects off of various surfaces, from water
to skin, has become an area of fascination for me. The color of a person’s surroundings,
the clothes they are wearing, their skin type and tone, all have different reactions
as to how their skin reflects or absorbs color. These challenges have become more
and more evident in my portrait paintings.
Being a self taught artist myself, I am always looking for ways to improve the
quality of my work. I purposely look for new challenges in my paintings with the
subject matter I choose. I approach each canvas as part of an extensive learning
curve. If someone viewing my work can immerse them in what I am trying to capture
and results in a positive emotion, that to me is a successful painting.
