December Cliffs

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on December 16, 2014

16 Dec

It has been too long since my last post and too long since I have had some time to paint. For the last month or so, my time has been completely taken up with the final stages of our gallery project, which has seen the restoration of an upstairs room in our gallery building here in Clifden. The truth is I have been doing a lot of painting in the last couple of weeks, but it has been of the interior decorating variety, involving skirting boards and architraves, new walls and old floor boards. The trouble with an old building such as ours is that when you start to clean/restore one section, the neighbouring wall or floor looks shockingly bad by comparison so you just have to keep going! Finally, finally, finally, it has come to an end and the results are worth more than the effort – I will post some photos of our new space here soon.

Today, I got back to some seascapes I started in October. This one was based on some photos I took of the cliffs at Inishturk, taken from the water – the chain you see in the foreground is from our boat. They are not very good photos in themselves but there was enough information there for me to make this painting. I am especially interested in the direction of the rock but also the inky blackness of the water as I remember it and the way the land clings onto and over the rock.

I began this painting with the texture or skeleton of the image, using some textured paste. I’ve simplified the details for dramatic effect. This was allowed to dry overnight before any colour was applied.

I applied a layer of colour to this straight afterwards ( but forgot to take a photo ) and the rest of the piece was worked today ( below )

I’m going to leave this to dry and return to it with a fresh eye. I think that certain elements work here but that others seem clumsy – the red and green in the middle ground for example seem a little harsh compared with the softer tones in the rest of the piece. What do you think?

Post Script

This morning I returned to the painting which is now completely dry to find the colours much subdued, as is often the case – below and cover image above. I’ll leave it now for a few days before deciding what to do next and move on to the next piece.

Island Paintings

by Total WP Support Inc.. Posted on May 28, 2013

28 May

I’ve begun a series of small paintings based on my trip to Inishturk and Caher island recently. It was such a thrill for me to have the perspective of the islands from the sea – all that blue/black/green in the foreground with a gorgeous slice of land in the middle of it all. I decided to work small and quickly rather than give myself the pressure of a large canvas so I chose acrylic paper, small pieces – 3″ x 4″ and 5″ x 7″

I prepared several sheets with a wash of blue and white.

Next I outlined some rough compositions and I used acrylic paste for texture.

Once the paste was dry, I went in with lots of colour – some charcoal first for the cliffs. I used paint and ink applied thickly and thinly in turn to maximise the effects that these two materials bring when used together. I worked quickly and back and forth between several pieces. The one in the cover photo ( also below ) was the last piece I worked on. I think it works best because I had figured out what I was doing by this stage. This is what it looked like when wet below.

Here is the same piece when dry – the paint has settled so the textures are clearer. The colours will brighten when I coat the surface with an acrylic varnish later, which will not effect the texture.

Here’s another piece – the first photograph below shows what it looked like when wet.

The same piece when dry below.

I’ll be taking a break from painting and blogging soon as I have a job for the Summer months which I have already started. I’ll post more about that in a little while..

Puffins

by Total WP Support Inc.. Posted on May 8, 2013

08 May

Cover photo by Aoife Herriott

We saw a large flock of Puffins while on Inishturk last week. They were congregating around one of the cliff faces where we stopped to admire them. We lay down on the grass at the top edge of the cliff to watch them swoop below us which was more than a little hair raising! My camera didn’t pick up the images very well but fortunately there were a couple of professional photographers in the group, among them Aoife Herriot who was kind enough to share her pictures with me.

Puffins on Inishturk by Aoife Herriott

The cliff face was lush with growth, grasses and a beautiful plant called Samphire which is very clear in this photo above. It was prolific in this particular spot and the leaves and delicate flower are edible.

These next photo also taken by Aoife, is of a Fulmer which is a seabird that looks rather like a gull but is in fact related to the Albatross. They breed on the cliffs here – we were mesmerised watching them swoop in and out of the rock face alongside the puffins.

Fulmer at Inishturk by Aoife Herriott

You can see more of Aoifes work on her website at www.aoifeherriott.com and at www.connemaraartlink.com

Inishturk

by Total WP Support Inc.. Posted on May 1, 2013

01 May

I joined a group led by Clifden archaeologist Michael Gibbons on a trip to Inish Turk and Caher Island this week. We set out from Cleggan harbour at 9.30am and headed for Caher island first, north east of Turk. It is tiny, uninhabited and difficult to access. The remains of an early Christian monastery survive on the island which is an ancient pilgrimage place and is still visited for this purpose today.

Map of Inishturk and Caher Island

Unfortunately, we were unable to land on the island as there was quite a big swell even though the day was warm and calm. This was what we saw as we approached – the water was deceptively still, almost black and oily in appearance but it rose up suddenly in bursts which crashed heavily on the rocks at the shoreline.

We turned around then and made our way back to Inishturk, stopping first to marvel at the base of these cliffs – a rupture of black basalt and granite. The light was incredible – it sparkled off the water and diffused as it rose, trapped in the black curve of rock which rises sharply from the water. I wish my photography skills were a bit better – this is my best picture.

We travelled over to the pretty harbour of Portdoon next ( cover photo ) where we disembarked and started our hike. The island is 5km long by 2.5km wide and we covered a good deal of it in the five or six hours we spent there. The landscape is an eye popping mix of undulating hills and valleys with ancient walls and field systems and dramatic cliff top walks. There’s a spectacular view of the Twelve Bens mountain range in this next one.

The diamond shaped hill in the centre distance ( below ) is Croagh Patrick, an important pilgrimage mountain in county Mayo.

Me in hiking mode below.

These sea stacks are known in Irish as ‘Buachaill mor’ and ‘Buachail beag’ ( Big boy and small boy ). The cliff views were spectacular and a little scary.

This next one is known locally as the sphynx – an incredible natural sculpture.

As we completed the loop back to Portdoon, we began to hear the sound of the sheep and their new lambs which dotted this part of the island – they were very willing to pose for photos..

Lastly, I stopped to take a picture of the post office which also operates as a Bed and Breakfast.

Every single islander we met along the way greeted us warmly and stopped for a chat. I was struck by the thought of living among such a small close community – just forty inhabitants today. This island is less known and travelled compared to it’s neighbours Inishbofin and Clare Island which attract large numbers of tourists in the Summer, but it is no less beautiful. I hope to make a return visit before the end of the Summer.