Summer Evening at Streamstown Graveyard

by Total WP Support Inc.. Posted on June 16, 2012

16 Jun

I went for a drive yesterday evening towards Claddagduff, north of Clifden and stopped at this graveyard on the way. It is situated on the side of a hill beside the road and looking out to sea at the mouth of Streamstown Bay. You can enter the graveyard through sturdy metal gates or by stepping over a traditional step style in the wall (below) as I chose to do.

This is the view on the other side of the wall (below). This graveyard is still in use and is an interesting mixture of ancient, weather beaten stone remnants and modern headstones.

These next two photos show the view moving West as the bay wanders out to the Atlantic. The smooth edges of this grey headstone (below) stand erect among the scattered stone blocks whose carved linkage with the past ( if there once was any? ) has long since been eroded.

As the evening drew on, the shadows grew longer (below). I read what I could of the modern stones and found familiar local names – King, Coyne and Casey.

I left wondering if the beauty of a place such as this makes any difference. I think that perhaps it does – as a better final prospect for the living, compared with some anonymous square field and for those left behind who might draw some kind of peace from such a setting

Woodland in paint

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 9, 2012

09 Apr

I took some photographs in the old graveyard in Clifden on Friday which I had a look at over the week end. I wanted to use them for a painting, but not too literally. I decided to focus on the trees and woodland floor and omit the gravestones and the old church ruin. Perhaps I will include them in another image but this time I wanted to focus on the upward reach of the trees, from the richness of the earth and the woodland floor right up in to the light and the sky.

I chose this photograph, not because it is a good photo in its own right, but because of the arrangement of the trees and because it could be a woodland anywhere and not necessarily part of a graveyard in the middle of town. Here’s the first sketch below. I used acrylic paint, charcoal and a little oil pastel.

The bluebells are suggested with some blue paint in the lower part of the piece.

I turned the page around for this one, to emphasize the length of these spindly trees.

Good Friday Photographs

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 6, 2012

06 Apr

I didn’t have a blog to post this morning but then I decided to go for an early morning walk in the old graveyard in Clifden and take my camera with me. It is less accessible now and not entirely visible from the road. How delighted I was then to discover such a treasure of wild flowers and plants. The delicate blue and pink blossoms of the bluebells make a carpet of colour on the moss and ivy covered ground.

This old graveyard is no longer in use and many of the tombstones are almost lost. There is only one wall left remaining of the old church, a memory of what stood there before.

I took this shot because the new church building is visible in the background and I love the shape of this weathered old tombstone.

Here’s a close up of some of the flowers. These beautiful bell shaped blossoms grow in abundance here, especially in wooded areas and river banks.