Artist

Art Journal: December 2025

07/12/25

To Conjure’ finished.

teacup poisoner. Ability to blend in - an unassuming, quiet figure who poisoned people in plain sight.

Brushes down.

09/12/25

Always a strange month, hectic in so many ways but hopefully there will also be time to work on my own stuff a bit. take time to reflect on the past year and taking some quality time with the family.

10/12/25

The Sketchbook quandary. Nearly impossible to carve time to draw when I normally would have - in the evening before bed. Looking at other options. Commute and breaks are most viable options for now. Will test.

11/12/25

Rolling back the years here. Sitting outside Belfast Art College on lunch - sketching, observing and dusting off the cobwebs.

14/12/25

Snapping recently finished works and a bit of cleaning - palette wiped and some acetates sketched out.

Drew up two canvases - could have been far more but stopped myself. Don’t want to draw up works just for the sake of drawing up - filling the gaps, breaking the silence.

15/12/25

In Southern Regional College, Banbridge today to give a talk to students.

16/12/25

20/12/25

Studio session. Three latest works out of the way and down into storage. When down, four of the larger damaged works could be cut and restretched. Will be interesting to see what, if anything can be salvaged.

A brush with, Luc Tiuymans —> “Authentic Forgeries”.

Good start to ‘Milena Study’ today.

Milena Pavlović-Barili was a Serbian born artist who never settled into one style or one city, finding fame in New York rather than Europe. Her death is marked by an air of mystery.

24/12/25

31/12/25

Ending the year with a lovely, if not a little chilly walk around Pomeroy forest.

Art Journal: October 2025

01/10/25

Prep ahead of VAI event in the MAC.

02/10/25

The start of a crazy month. But looking forward to LNAB later…

The Weight of Inheritance’ showing in the Royale Arcade Academy group exhibition.


Catalyst Arts

05/10/25

Deep breath…

Let’s have a go at session three for “B,W,oatS”.

A Brush with Wolfgang Tillmans - “RE-ENERGISE YOUR ARCHIVE!”

From what I can tell, the ocular device looks the part - symmetrical enough to look convincing and squ-whiff enough to be interesting.

Finished - bar Malcolm’s contribution (although I do kind of like it).

S….GF?

12/10/25

A Brush with Suzanne Jackson.

Completed ‘Kiss with a Red Flag’ - minimal touches needed - thin wash on highlights of hair and a slight change in background / freshening of the red flag / shirt. It could have been done on the second session but with elements not dry, the risk was too high of destroying any good work done to that point.


14/10/25

Visit to the MAC. Niamh Seana Meehan’s sombre textile installation that waits for you to immerse yourself.

William McKeown’s paintings of meditative light and beautifully subtle horizon lines.

Marie Hanlon and Rhona Clarke’s thought provoking work - a collaborative video installation that shines a light on the climate emergency plus Hnnlon’s sculptures of knotted glass that explores water as a resource.

19/10/25

Second session on ‘To Conjure’. Both images are fighting for dominance right now. Limiting the palette to see how this could affect this struggle and the work as a whole.

Mostly working on the large portrait element today.

22/10/25

26/10/25

Went and sat up in the studio for a while only to realise I wasn’t ready Space needed tidying up and organised so after a bit of time cleaning - it was back down to the office to work on admin updates. The boring stuff needs done too.

28/10/25

Zhanna Kadyrova in the Golden Thread Gallery’s ‘Radical Hope’ exhibition.

RDH: JULY 2024

04/07/24

LNAB

07/07/24

Early sketchbook work this morning - bit of a delay but in the studio now eventually.

12/07/24

Late Night Sketchbook Session

14/07/24

Turn to Page Five” - good progress.

21/07/24

Into the second round of the RUA. Taking “Defiant Study” up on Sunday 4th August. Fingers crossed.

25/07/24

Wasn’t successful in Mayo application. Onwards.

Not too much art related happenings this week and next - decorating the kitchen and having some family holiday time. Must make a point of getting thoughts / ideas / notes down as and when if possible. There have been a couple of instances where something has popped into view mentally relating to practice but since they weren;’t recorded, they have faded into lost memories.

Renewal isn’t a lie.

30/07/24

North Coast - burnt to a crisp.