Study: River Shoal

This 20 x 16 Acrylic painting is part of the Stallings Island Series. Most of the paintings in the exhibit will be Mixed Media Collage, however I have included several acrylic paintings  The painting posted here was a study for a larger painting in which I was planning to use a water spray technique. The surface of the canvas was textured using a variety of acrylic mediums. The surface then painted. With each layer of acrylic paint a water spray was used to reveal the layer below and give the painting a watery-distressed appearance. As for the title, a 'SHOAL' is a place where a river, sea, or other body of water becomes shallow allowing the possibility of traversing it by foot. I was pleased with the result and decided to use the same technique on a larger painting.

"More Than Meets the Eye" I, II, and III

I recently completed these three acrylic paintings. I had been feeling a bit creatively 'stuck' and decided to try something completely different. These three paintings have extremely textured surfaces using various types of acrylic ground mediums (fiber paste, coarse pumice gel, crackle paste, gesso..basically anything I had on hand!) While the substrate was still wet I literally wrote into the wet mediums some of my frustrations….prayers, if you will. I didn't have a still life set up, nor did I work from a photo reference. With the first one, I actually started out painting an abstract but it wound up being a floral still life so I carried that theme on with the subsequent two……it was a fun and cathartic exercise and helped me get back on track!!

'Sierra'

Many of my paintings are highly abstracted landscapes. While much of my intuitive work springs from my experiences in Ireland this painting, with it's southwestern palette of colors, reminds me of the mountains near Santa Fe, NM. I have had three art excursions which took me to Santa Fe, NM and I find it's influence creeps into my work now and then. A 'sierra' is a range of mountains especially with a serrated or irregular outline so it seemed a fitting title for the piece.

'Bog Dóiteáin' (Irish Gaelic - 'Bog Fire')

Blanket Bogs are the most common type turf bog in Ireland. From a distance these boglands appear to hug the landscape like a blanket, especially over rolling hills and some mountains. In addition to providing turf, an important source of fuel, bogs are important archeologically as the lack of oxygen and high levels of tannic acid in the water means that objects sacrificed or lost in the bog are astonishingly well preserved. Many of the treasured archeological riches in Irelands National Museum consist of bog discoveries. There are many legends associated with bogs. Among them it was believed that flames flickering on the surface at dusk on misty days came from the fires of fairies who lived beneath the bog.

"Ard na Sidhe"

This small piece was inspired by the Fairy Folklore of Ireland and warrants a little explanation. There are many different aspects of Fairy lore in Celtic Ireland. Legend has it that the people of Tuatha Dé Danann retreated to an Otherworld after the Milesians came to Ireland and that they became known as Sidhe (pr. 'shee'). These beings became the Gods and Goddesses as well as Fairy Kings and Queens of the Celtic people in later times. Fairy Hills were believed to be the 'doorway' to the Otherworld.

'Seantí'

I'm in the process of getting a body of work together for an exhibiton that will open on St. Patrick's Day in March. All of the works will have an Irish theme and this is my most recently completed piece. The title 'Seantí' is the Irish gaelic word for 'old house'......I suppose that is the origin of the term 'shanty'.

"The Hill"