Goblet and Plum

Goblet and Plum - oil on canvas - 16"x 16" - sold

Yet another painting that has been an age in the making.

With this piece I concentrated on creating a strong atmospheric quality by using many different elements and pictorial devises including most notably - light and shade, varying edges and highly textured descriptive and expressive brushwork.

(Detail Below)

Composition with Multiple objects and Lemon

Composition with Multiple objects and Lemon - oil on canvas - 16"x12" - sold

I began this piece last January as a demo to a school of over two thousand gawking Thai students! Distracted as I was I did manage to complete one or two smaller pieces during the two day seminar but never got a chance to complete this piece.

It has gone through several transformations since its conception and proved very frustrating at times but eventually I managed to bring it to some sort of a conclusion. The painting remains multi layered and textural with the strongest focus being the burst of cool colour and light that is Lemon Yellow.

See Detail Below.

The Navigator

The Navigator - oil on canvas - 24"x20" - sold
Private Collection, New York 

'Ready am I to go, and my eagerness with sails full set awaits the wind'.

'Only another breath will I breathe in this still air, only another loving look cast backward,Then I shall stand among you, a seafarer among seafarers.And you, vast sea, sleepless mother,Who alone are peace and freedom to the river and the stream,Only another winding will this stream make, only another murmur in this glade,And then shall I come to you, a boundless drop to a boundless ocean'. - Khalil Gibran

Hebe, arrangement in Purple and Ochre

Hebe, arrangement in Purple and Ochre - oil on canvas - 12"x10" - sold

Here is another piece that I have been working on for some time. Again, this piece was originally started about a year ago in my studio just outside the Burren village of Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare.

I am proud that I managed after so much time and consideration to finally have brought this piece to a quite 'brilliant' finish, with it's strong sense of design, balance and focus not to mention multiple textures and varied applications of paint.

Above is an example of how I currently frame these pieces.

Hope you like it - Richard

Coffee Pot with Buttercups

Coffee Pot with Buttercups - oil on canvas - 12"x 9" - sold
This arrangement in blue and yellow has taken a long time to pull together. I started it at least a year ago during my time in the Burren Co. Clare. The butter cups that feature were found around my garden in Ballyvaughan.

I paid particular attention to the quaility of light on the fabric and creating a sense of space. The grapes were added to the piece more recently creating a triangular balance within the composition.

Old Silver Tea Pot

Old Silver Tea Pot with garden flowers - oil on gesso panel - 12"x9" - sold

As many of you know I delight in completing a painting in a single sitting, but over the past year or so through further development within my practice and processes some studio pieces I feel need extra consideration.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be concentrating on posting some larger scale observational studio pieces that have been 'in flux and development' over the past year or so. These art works have just come together for me over the past week through insights. I suppose the time was just right for a coordinated coming together of learnt and gleaned ideas as well as inspiration and the impetus to get them right.

This piece was recently created (in a couple of sittings) at my cottage in Co. Mayo. I Love the variety and assemblage of brush strokes and scumbles that I layed in to describe the Silver Tea Pot and how this reflective quaility of the old tea pot is thus communicated. (see Detail Below)

Hope you like it.
- Richard

On the Quay

On the Quay - oil/panel - 12"x9" - sold

Returned to this subject and scene that I had painted previously close to my studio just before my recent New York Exhibit.

To my amazement I found yet another sort of triangular arrangement and the light was perfect, so I set to work only to find that I had forgotten my turpentine! I called into Eileen and Liam's, the Westport House grounds keepers who live close by. They kindly gave me some turps from their garden shed - problem solved!

Completed a very finished piece there and then and brought the painting back to my cottage and studio for the finishing touches.

Hope you like it - Richard