I have (almost) an entire week of no commitments ahead of me. It’s a rare luxury, where i can visit favourite haunts with Patches, take photographs and catch up on some art…

Northern Ireland is behaving like Northern Ireland is supposed to in late October, with flashes of sunlight chased away by dark dramatic clouds, strong winds and the never-far-away rains (this is why we have 40 shades of green).

I’m also mulling over in my head where I want to go with my next paintings. I generally have several commissions and paintings lined up for clients or specific people but I like to intersperse these with the paintings that I want to do for myself. Ultimately I might not keep them, but the process of choosing the subject and capturing whatever the essence is – that’s for me. Ironically most of the times these paintings that I do for me turn out to be some of my most popular pieces.

I’m currently fascinated by everything to do with light underwater (hence the recent polar bears) and I’m itching to explore that theme some more, maybe without the animals and purely a water study.

However I am also drawn to the changing of the seasons… I always lament the end of the long summer days.

But a recent twilight trip to the beach at Ballyholme (Bangor, Northern Ireland) last week had such beautiful moody light that I’m can’t wait to get up to the studio to try to capture these scenes.

Such evenings are food for the soul. Winter is definitely coming. But that maybe isn’t such a bad thing.

More original art and limited edition prints in my online shop

#pastelpainting #irishartist #beach #seascape #landscape #winteriscoming #turnoftheseasons #bangor #ballyholme #countydown #NorthernIreland #nature

One small step for man; one giant leap for a technophobe…

Don’t get me wrong – I have a love- hate relationship with social media the same as everyone else, but this is my first foray into an ACTUAL website and blog. So the first challenge for me is about understanding everything about the placement of widgets and how to resize a header, rather than the more creative challenge of a blank page (note, I still haven’t quite worked out how to link pages on this site).

But the purpose of this space? Other than to think out loud about how to build a website? I guess ultimately it’s going to be a space for me to focus exclusively on the art process (which helps me think through my ideas and where i want to go with them); and for me to reach out and hopefully connect more with readers and people who like my paintings.

The thing is, I’m not quite ready to launch my artsite, so I think that means there’ll be a disconnect. But I’ve been assured that the thing to do is to just write (stream of consciousness here i come) and worry about sense and quality and all that jazz later. Just write. Beat the big blank page.

Interestly I’m rarely put off by a blank page when painting and drawing – just when I’m writing.

Anyway, that’s probably enough for right now. If this is supposed to be a conduit for my art, maybe its best to let the art do the talking instead.

I’ve spent the last week in a race to the finish line in order to make an exhibition deadline for this painting, called “Svalbard”. It’s one of two polar bear paintings where I’m experimenting with light and movement (and it turns out, also thousands of bubbles).

I’m pleased with the result, but don’t want to see another bubble for a looooooong time.