Made in response to the prose and poetry of Michael Kirby during a residency at the Cill Rialaig Artists’ Retreat in Ballinskelligs (Kirby’s native place). The original purpose of the residency was to paint the sea but en route I passed a bog at Emloughmore and fell hard for it! And there I painted for the the entirety of my stay.

I love the colours and textures of our native bogs. I love too that they are a living, breathing thing – steeped in history and a natural source of abundance. I am enormously influenced by Michael Kirby. I truly believe him to have been one of our nations greatest ‘teachers’ and ‘see-ers’, so it was an honour to respond to his work.

  • I made this painting while on retreat in Kerry early last January. Being surrounded by sea, Ballinskelligs rarely see's snow, so it was a great pleasure to witness the smallest amount atop the boglands.   Mixed media on board 40cm x 25cm SOLD
  • When I first started painting in Kerry, I was fascinated by the bog and asked some local people where was best to paint the bog. They sent me to “Lough na Rabba .. where the geese go boggin!".  I understood why when I got there - it was VERY boggy!   And very beautiful.   Mixed media on board, 20cm x 15cm SOLD
  • From my ‘Ballads to the Bog’ series, ‘Blanket Bog’ was painted during my first painting residency at Cill Rialaig Artists’ Retreat in Kerry. I went with the intention of painting the sea but was completely overwhelmed by the bogs and spent all my time painting there. It was glorious. I love the abundance of our bogs, their ever-changing colours and the fact they are a living, breathing thing.   Oil on canvas 50cm x 40cm SOLD **Limited Edition Archival Prints Available**
  • This painting captures my interpretation of the way rain and mist move across the bogs in Kerry – seemingly unifying to occupy the scene.  There are 'soft' days in Kerry, when the rain  is a slight drizzle, merely doing it's job of re-hydrating the earth. This was painted on one of those days.   Oil on board 29cm x 20cm SOLD
  • 'Kerry Gold' goes somewhere to explaining the affection I have for the 'Kingdom'. Time spent there is a gift and on a sunny day it feels as though the beaches are imbued with gold.   Oil on board 25cm x 13cm SOLD
  • So taken was I with the Kerry landscape in Spring bloom that I felt compelled to incorporate elements of the landscape to the piece. This piece was one of the first of my 'Ballads to the Bog' pieces made in Kerry in homage to the great Writer and Poet Michael Kirby. At the time, I was looking at the work of German artist Anselm Kiefer who incorporates elements into his giant constructions. The gorse was treated and preserved with varnish before being sewn into the painting - I feel it strikes a good balance between the elemental and abstraction.   Mixed media on linen 50cm x 40cm SOLD
  • This large piece captures my 'love at first sight' impressions of the Kerry Bogs. It was painted in-situ in the middle of the bog at Emloughmore. I painted it in a tee-shirt on a bright January day – my birthday – it was my first BIG painting and truly felt like a gift. Mixed media on canvas 148cm X 104cm
  • Once you 'aclimatise' there is something quite hynotic about the rain in Kerry. There is a softness to it. In this painting I tried to capture that gentleness.   Oil on board 25cm x 15cm SOLD
  • This painting was made in the bog at Emloughmore, just outside Ballinskelligs in Co. Kerry. I love the freedom of painting there, just dropping down in to the scene and trying to capture my impression of the lovely energy in that place. The Golden Cut Away Bog was painted on a sunny January day when it felt as though it was all before us.   Oil on board 15cm x 25cm SOLD
  • I made this piece over an Easter weekend in my studio. I wasn't entirely sure what I would paint but I had recently returned from a residency in Kerry and the view of the ancient famine village at dusk, with smoke billowing from the little chimneys haunted me and found its way into the work. The famine village is located at Cill Rialaig on Bolus Head, on the last road out of Ireland. The location has been central to much of my work here in Ireland. Residencies here provided an essential time and space to immerse myself in the landscape and it's history - so that I might respond to and develop a sort of language of the land. mixed media on canvas 148cm X 104cm

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