Always Driven To Learn & Create

I have always had the urge to be creative, to learn new crafts and that has driven me to make pictures since I was a child. I was very lucky to have parents who encouraged me to draw and paint and were proud to show my early attempts to neighbours visiting our home in Sligo.

I have always been intrigued by the tools used to create artwork and fascinated by colour mixing. I enjoy working with versatile materials and acquiring new skills while developing my craft. Since leaving art college I have been involved in various art and craft pursuits. I spent several years developing and perfecting my skills in sign painting, stagecraft, set design, hand-built pottery and pyrography.

I love new challenges and my motto could be: more ideas than time! I appear to have an insatiable desire to keep evolving and improving and I get creatively restless if a few days go by without spending time in my workshop. I hope I always have this curiosity and drive to make my new ideas a reality.

What's For Sale...?

My original pictures are a unique and popular presentation idea for retiring colleagues. They make great wedding gifts and indeed are guaranteed to put a spontaneous smile on the face of that special person in your life. All my art creations are professionally framed and ready to hang in your home, business or public buildings.

Indeed why not treat yourself to an original and amazing piece of Irish art. You deserve it !

Drawings - using water-colour pencils and pen

Pyrography - an ancient art burning designs on to wood

Paintings - using gouache water-based paint

Art Prints- high quality giclee prints of my work

Drawings:

In recent years my favourite mixed media for creating pictures are watercolour pencils and black fineliner pens on lightweight white card. I choose from an assortment of brands of watercolour pencils which must have high quality, strong pigments. I use these pencils dry and in conjunction with black pigment, fineliner pens. The pen nibs range from 0.05mm to 1.00mm and the inks are lightfast and waterproof which ensures the drawings do not fade.

Pyrography:

The word pyrography is derived from two Greek words pur (fire) and graphos (drawing). Pyrography is the art of burning pictures onto wood. It was originally called pokerwork and was done with metal pokers heated in the fire of a family home. Sometimes the seat of a stool or other wooden object was decorated with a motif or design to pass the time on winter evenings and to enhance the appearance of the object. I use a specialized electric pyrography tool which has adjustable tips for different lines and shading effects. It is also now possible to maintain a constant temperature on the tip which is an important quality when working on wood pictures.

Paintings:

Gouache is a water based painting medium that I love to use when I am painting attractive landscape scenes and interesting still life subjects. It provides bright clean colours and allows for great detail. Because of its opacity it also allows for light colours to be painted over dark colours effectively. It is this characteristic that I love most about gouache paint. It has been used by painters for centuries and paint similar to it has been used back as far as the ancient Egyptians. I like to use it on pressed watercolour paper that has been stretched and allowed to dry completely.

Prints:

I make small limited edition giclee prints of some of my own favourite works. These are printed on museum quality paper and using archival inks. They are considerably cheaper to purchase than original works and look identical. They are a great entry-level way in to the art world and a means of compiling a collection of beautiful pictures by your favourite artists.

Commissions:

I often get asked by customers to draw a place that has a significant meaning for that person.

Sometimes it is the house, a garden, a tree, a flower or perhaps a street that they grew up in. Very often the person does not have many photos to work from or maybe only recent ones that in no way resemble the original scene. However by combining spoken descriptions and some "bad" photographs I have been successful in providing a memorable family heirloom for many delighted customers.

Other commissioned subjects include schools, pubs, the church where a couple got married, street scenes, beaches, a beautiful landscape or a bridge. The list is quite endless!

If you have dreamt of a picture that you would like, I might be the artist that can make it a reality. Email me with your idea, we can discuss it, and I will be able to give you a quotation before I start.

There is no charge for the consultation. So, if you are considering commissioning a piece for the first time, don't be intimidated. I will guide you through the process and it will be a fun and collaborative experience!