Bog Pool

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on May 14, 2012

14 May

Here is another photograph taken from the Bog Road, between Clifden and Roundstone. The road itself is like a ribbon of tarmac that bumps over the surface of the Bog ( top right of photograph ).
I’ve used the pool in the front of this picture as the inspiration for the painting below.

This piece is similar to one I finished recently but I’ve made the water a stronger feature in this one – I am going to do several more paintings about this area because there is much to work on. I’ve used straight lines to delineate the pool in the foreground where the cut earth has been flooded. I love this play between the uniform lines or human marks left by the bog cutting and the wildness of the place which ultimately takes over.

I worked this in one sitting while paint and ink were wet. I really enjoy the way that these two materials interact with each other and I feel that they lend themselves well to this subject.

Tales from the West – Exhibition

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on May 12, 2012

12 May

This week, I attended the opening of a joint exhibition of work by two artists from Connemara. The title of the show is ‘Tales from the West‘ and it takes place in the

Peppercanister Gallery in Herbert Street in Dublin.

The first artist is my husband Gavin Lavelle and so I have watched the progress of his work for this show at first hand. Gavin studied fine art painting at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin from 1986 – 1991. He paints full – time as well as running his own gallery (The Lavelle Art Gallery) in the old family home here in Clifden.
His work is a mixture of collage and paint, sometimes applied on flat surfaces but also on wooden discs, icon shaped panels of board and specially formed domes of wood. The cut outs come from a multitude of sources – maps, printed work, texts, architecture, art history and religious imagery. These blend with paint and ink to form strange worlds of the imagination where opposing themes, histories and influences merge.
Here’s an example below simply called ‘Large Triptych Box’.

Rosie McGurran is also living and working in Connemara in the village of Roundstone. Rosie grew up in Belfast and studied fine art at the University of Ulster. She is a member of the Royal Ulster Academy of the Arts and she has worked in residencies in Rome, Australia, Iceland and New York. She discovered Roundstone and the island of Inishlacken in the late 1990’s and this ultimately led her to move here permanently, establishing Connemara as her home and also as the inspiration for her work. Rosie’s paintings describe the landscape, buildings, winding stone walls and field formations that make Connemara unique. A female figure commands the presence of some of these – she gazes outwards with a thoughtful, questioning look and she seems to gather houses and ruins in her skirts or on her head. These paintings are a response to the communities who live here and to those who are long gone. Rosie has a special affinity with the abandoned island of Inishlacken just off the shore of Roundstone. This was once a lively community which thrived from its own natural resource – the sea – but now it is a shadow of that time, it’s people dispersed, it’s houses abandoned except for a few Summer homes.
This painting of Rosie’s below is of Inishlacken.

The opening night was very enjoyable and there was a lively and welcoming atmosphere thanks to gallery owner Bryan Murphy and a thoughtful and eloquent introduction provided by Mr. Frank X Buckley. The show runs until June 2nd 2012. Go see it if you can.

Bog Paintings Series

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on May 10, 2012

10 May

I’m working on a series of paintings of the bog at the moment. This is a photograph I took out on the Bog Road, between Clifden and Roundstone. I like the strong direction of the Bog furrows across the land. Also, the combination of the Twelve Bens mountain range in the distance with the water in the middle distance, make for a rich composition.

I’ve used all of these features in the painting below. This one is done on a heavy weight acyrlic paper. I forgot to take a picture at the early stages so this is how it looks after quite a bit of work.

As you can see, I’ve deepened up the colours considerably ( these rusts and reds are truer later in the year ). I’ve also allowed the lake to bleed in to the bog, washing it away visually. I’ll come back to this one when the paint has dried but it doesn’t need too much more work.

New Bog Paintings

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on May 8, 2012

08 May

A supply of paint and canvas arrived in the post last week and so I began some new work enthusiastically with my fresh supplies. I have been thinking about some of my old paintings of the bog which I worked quite heavily with paint, something I haven’t done for a while. I decided therefore to apply as much colour as possible at the first sitting and try to build up several layers.
This piece is on a 5 x 5 inch canvas. The composition is based on a section of road that connects Clifden to the village of Roundstone called the ‘Bog Road’. I applied the paint thickly and loosely once I had sketched in a rough compostion with charcoal.

Once the first layer of paint had dried, I added more colour, especially to the foreground on the right (below). I felt it needed red but less roughly applied. I also added more green and gold here in small strokes to descrice this little gully at the side of the road. Then I altered the line where the land meets the sky slightly and added a touch of colour to the clouds as they seemed a bit flat..

I left the rest of the painting much as it was. I was keen to strike a balance with this one – not to overwork it (as I am inclined to do sometimes) and to use plenty of paint in layers, in sympathy with the subject.

Favourite Blog

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on May 5, 2012

05 May

I have taken this idea from Elettrarossa, a follower of this blog, a jeweler, creative person, ‘Etsian’ and blogger herself. The idea is to promote blogs with less than 200 followers and spread the word!

It has not been an easy task but here are my top five – click on the titles to go straight to these blogs.

1. Geninne’s Art Blog

I discovered this blog recently and enjoy reading about Geninne’s latest projects and also her inspiration, which is drawn from her surroundings in Sunny Mexico. The sunlight and colour that breathe through her photographs and imagery make me want to visit this beautiful country.

2. Catherine Ryan Paintings

I met Catherine several times before I discovered that she is a fellow blogger. She spent some time here in Clifden with a mutual friend and taught a series of very successful art classes to local children, mine among them! Catherine also exhibited her paintings while she was in Clifden and we are now the proud owners of two of her wonderful pieces which we all enjoy very much. I am delighted to follow Catherine’s blog and would recommend it to anyone interested in contemporary Irish Art.

3. Koukla House

This blog is written by my sister in law who is living in Brisbane, Australia. It is about her latest project which is the furnishing and decoration of her new house. Tina is Greek Australian and she has taken the Greek word ‘Koukla’ or pretty thing as a goal for her new home. Following Tina’s blog is a way of staying in touch with family and I find her journey an interesting one as a keen home maker myself. Plus we girls like to support each other!

4. Vitrified Studio Work

I have just discovered this blog through etsy.com. Shelley Martin is the artist/potter and she was the featured seller on etsy’s front page recently which is how I connected with her blog. I love her simple clean style and the purity of her work. It is a great pleasure for me to read about a potter’s life as I too made pots for many years.

5. Bridget Farmer

This is another beautiful blog that I have stumbled upon. Bridget is an artist/printmaker who is originally from Northern Ireland but now lives near Melbourne in Australia. I admire her blog for it’s style and the interesting way that she talks about her processes. I especially like her bird prints and the way that she uses line in such a loose and expressive way.

So, that’s my list. I hope you enjoy it and thanks again to Elettrarossa for sharing the idea and also for her support. Now it’s over to you to play the game if you like. Just download the banner, nominate your own top five bloggers (with under 200 followers) and notify them of their inclusion in your list via a comment in their blog.

Wild fuchsia and Nature’s Colours

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on May 3, 2012

03 May

I took some more photographs of the wild fuchsia flower on a recent walk near my home in Clifden. This pale pink variety is not as commonly found as the bright red strain that adorns most hedgerows here. I love it’s delicate colours – barely pink and pale purple against the vivid greens of the leaves and hedgerow, the colours of early Summer.

I find it interesting how certain unexpected combinations of colour and tone work so well in Nature. I can imagine this mixture in a fabric print or perhaps some knitwear. Now I’m wondering if I can use it in a painting – it might be worth a try in this case.

Seascape Canvas in Stages

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on May 1, 2012

01 May

This is a small seascape on canvas ( 4 x 4 inches ) carried out in a few stages. This is as much as I did at the first sitting. The sea and land take up less than a third of the painting, so the sky is the dominant feature.

The photograph below shows the canvas as a whole at the next stage, having added more colour to create the headland shape on the horizon line and more depth to the sky.

The last photo is taken straight on and shows the final inclusion of some red paint to the headland. I have flattened the perspective slightly in the foreground by dragging the paint downwards, which has the effect of allowing the viewer to look under the water.

I’ve decided to leave it at this point. I feel that it is finished even though the paint layers are thin. What do you think?

Inspiration – Henry Moore’s Sheep Drawings

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 30, 2012

30 Apr

I was reminded recently of Henry Moore’s beautiful sheep drawings while taking photographs of a ewe with her lamb. Moore is perhaps best known for his large sculptures. There is a very fine example of one of these in Trinity college Dublin, photographed below. This piece is called ‘Reclining Connected Form’

Photograph by Andre Winlondon at http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewinlondon/3440955256/

I read recently that when asked by his niece why the titles for his work are so simple, Moore replied “All art should have a certain mystery and should make demands on the spectator. Giving a drawing too explicit a title takes away part of that mystery so that the spectator moves on to the next object, making no effort to ponder the meaning of what he has just seen. Everyone thinks that he or she looks but they don’t really you know” *

I take the first part of this as something to really strive for myself in my own work. I also appreciate it as an observer of art and nature myself – the skill of looking is so often undervalued.. but I digress!

These are the sheep drawings I have been thinking about. Moore made a wonderful collection of them and several of the ewe with her lamb – mother and child – a subject which he drew from throughout his career.

Photographs reproduced from the Henry Moore Foundation website

Moore has such sympathy with his subject. I love the expressions and gestures in these wonderful wiry drawings. These and many more are available as a collection in a book published by Thames and Hudson ( below ) which I would recommend to anyone with an interest in drawing.

Day, Elizabeth. “The Moore legacy”. The Observer, 27 July 2008.

Connemara Sheep

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 27, 2012

27 Apr

I took these pictures of Connemara sheep recently. This is a typical sight here – the sheep often feed and rest near the roadside because the tarmac surface is warm. They wander freely and graze on what they can find among the bog grasses. This one ( below) has just noticed me.

This ram is giving me the eye because there are lambs around..

How rugged and handsome these weather worn creatures seem in relation to their East coast cousins who appear plump and coiffed by comparison. Another ram decides to ignore me ( below).

Then I spot a ewe with her lamb. They move quickly when they become aware of my presence so I take as many pictures as I can. It’s breezy and I’m finding it hard to keep the camera still so some of my shots are just out of focus. I keep all the images however as they will be useful as reference pictures.

The lamb stays close to it’s mother as they retreat across the heath together. These images remind me of Henry Moore’s beautiful sheep drawings which I will share in another post.

Finished Sea scape

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 26, 2012

26 Apr

I’ve been working on this one for a while now. This is where I left it …

This is the finished painting below. I’ve added more buildings and telegraph poles to the landscape to make this a seaside community under the eye of the storm, rather than just a lone building.

I’ve given the sea a bit more substance with more paint and I’ve used some more gold in the clouds. Finally, I’ve used charcoal to darken the surface a few degrees.

Recording the stages of work on this blog has been an interesting process for me and sometimes I wonder if I should have left the painting at an earlier stage. I am often tempted to darken things towards the end of a piece. What do you think in this case?