Paintings - Ireland

"The more I have painted along the West Coast of Ireland, the more I have become aware of the way the skies affect the landscape, change its moods and dictate the traditional way of life of its people. In many of my later paintings the horizons have dropped lower and lower, the landscapes have somehow become less important than the skies. The huge variety of cloud formations are of constant interest, sometimes even dark foreboding clouds have brilliant light glinting from behind them, which gives me a terrific visual buzz."

"Many of my Irish paintings are along the coastal edge, some with rock-pools left behind as the tide recedes and others with evening skies reflected in the water. The varying stages of the tide generate terrific changes and as a knife painter it allows me to use a wide variety of dragging and scumbling techniques to create textures and surface movements."

"In Ireland I have often had to draw quickly and with great urgency, because the weather seems to change more quickly than any other place I have worked. Many of my drawings are splashed with rain, as I struggled to complete interpretations of the landscape with pen & wash and watercolour."