Magical Ireland

Ireland was pure magic.    Words can't adequately describe the breathtaking vistas, dazzling, sunlit cow pastures, peaceful fields of sheep, and wildly varied clouds against cobalt blue skies.  I don't think a hundred paintings would adequately describe it either.   I stood there taking in all that my senses could absorb.  I took pictures and videos, hoping to be able to re-live this feast-for-the-eyes later.   It's never the same.  How could it be?

Homestead - Cuill, Isle of Doagh

We quickly learned that the country's hillsides, the green and gold patchwork typically shown in travel brochures, were not just infrequent, opportunistic scenes.     The iconic vistas in every shade of green represented the majority of the places we saw in this magical land.   Furthermore, on most days we had full sunshine which only served to illuminate the vivid greens in the land of our ancestors.

Do you sense a string of Ireland paintings coming?  If so, you sense correctly!

McColgan Homestead - Cuill Isle of Doagh - Stage 1 Block In

The photo above will be used to create a large painting that I expect will take a few painting sessions (24" x 36").   It is one of my favorite locations from the trip because it depicts the two McColgan family tracts of land on the Isle of Doagh, on the Inishowen Penninsula, Donegal.   One of the properties still has a farmhouse complete with thatched roof, a barn and various other utility buildings. The property next door  (to the left in the photo) was that of my great-grandparents Edward McColgan and Brigid Gubbins.   This is where they lived before their deaths in 1899 (within a month of each other -shortly thereafter all of their children emigrated to Boston).   Only two of the stone corner walls of their house were visible from the road - barely - and the remaining ruins we could make out were overgrown with vines.

Stage 1 shows the block-in for this special painting.  There is an interesting story on how we found this land during our trip which I will share when I post more progress on the painting.

Crooker Park Tree

We had a fairly short paint-out at a quiet and seemingly little known spot called Crooker Memorial Park located on Tobey Garden Street in Duxbury, MA.   The sandy parking lot had room for at least a dozen cars and it had a nice wide boat launch area into the park's main attraction, Island Creek Pond.  Since it was the last week of September, there was a definite look of autumn red to many of the small trees and shrubs that lined the edge of the water.    With no architectural elements or boats, the challenge was to create a decent painting making the most of what was there, specifically, just trees and water.   My thought was that success would have to be through the composition itself (dark vs. light).

Crooker Park Tree

I am happy with the color matching and the values.   The composition is a little boring, although I think the painting
looks a lot nicer in person.