04/01/23
… a turbulent start to the new year. A lot of adjusting and readjusting needed now and in the coming weeks…
07/01/23
Studio time.
If I focus on just the background of ‘Donegall Street Walker’ piece, then I’d be doing OK…
Solid few hours in the studio today. Solved a few problems and finding new ones. I guess that’s what makes painting so exciting to me. It’s an ever-shifting target and the constant challenge.
08/01/23
“Francis Bacon: Outsider” on RTÉ player.
15/01/23
Crazy week… couldn’t write it.
Studio time: Thought it would be prudent to focus on just one of the small pieces on the go at present. ‘Jaws’ piece (working title).
The earlier iteration had a wider composition with a lot going on - too busy. Hopefully, the tighter focus on the portrait will help to clean up the overall aesthetic.
Once again, back and forth but mostly in the right direction.
19/01/23
Visual Artists Café: Show and Tell.
Patricia Kelly, Jonathan Brennan, James Hughes, Esther O’Kelly, Clinton Kirkpatrick and Ciaran Ó Dochartaigh.
Incredibly good line-up.
20/01/23
Sketchbook work. It’s a strange feeling - albeit an exciting one - when you finish a drawing, and it immediately sparks something more. It’s only happened a few times at such breakneck speed (‘Return Voyage’ springs to mind).
The child soldier has done that today. Can’t sit on my hands with this one.
22/01/23
An early rise. Today I had one goal - get this child soldier image exorcised by getting a composition down. Sadly, it meant that there had to be a casualty, so the large study of my sister had to take one for the practice. For whatever reason I felt this image is demanding a large surface.
