Sketching (A Little) in Ireland

Castletownbere Harbor

I did not bring painting materials to Ireland.   There would be no room in my luggage for the gear and wet paintings.   This trip was about visiting ancestral locales and covering as much of the country as we could.   The itinerary did not lend itself to the concept of a paint-out. I wouldn't change a thing about this, our inaugural trip, but I did occasionally long to paint. Mark my words, the next trip to Ireland will include painting!

Castletownbere and Bere Island Satellite Map

One morning, while in Castletownbere on the Beara Penninsula (all the way to the Southwest tip of Ireland), I sketched a scene of the gorgeous view looking out toward Bere Island.   See the satellite view for an aerial shot.  The green marker is where I was and the island to the southeast is Bere Island (the hill in the sketch.)  The vine charcoal was sorely lacking as a recording method.  I'm sharing a photo that is similar...it didn't capture the color either since it was twilight in that shot.

Sketching at Kilkenny Castle

Whilst (heehee) at Kilkenny Castle, I marginally satisfied the painting itch again and did some more sketching.   I sat inside the back gate, the location of some impressive statues.  I used vine charcoal and a drawing pad.  I didn't get far, and I didn't record who this was a statue of, but it was a woman with majestic layers of folds in her garb.  I liked the shapes against the low and dramatic light.

My husband came away with the more successful rendering with the cool photo of me measuring, showing his flare for composition.

Ennis, Ireland

Ennis Downtown Underpainting

This painting depicts a beautiful, rustic street scene of picturesque Ennis in County Clare, Ireland. We landed in Shannon in the morning, drove to Ennis and checked into our B&B.   We had no specific ties to Ennis; our plan was to get acclimated to the timezone, driving on the left, and just generally get settled before venturing out on our more lengthy travels.

Ennis is a thriving community with a quaint town center depicted in this painting.  We walked this stretch of the main street several times during our visit. The St. Peter and Paul's Catholic Church anchors one end of the center, and the Ennis Friary, which dates back to the late thirteenth century anchors the other.

Ennis Street at Dusk - Stage 1

I liked the armature of this painting.   The dynamic diagonals point from the edges of the scene to the center of interest.    I wanted the viewer to follow the car into the street, look to its left to see the bright red pub, then look up to the end of the street where St. Peter and Paul's Church steeple stretches up into the twilight sky.

The colorful and warm underpainting and broken paint effect represents the decades, even centuries, of paint that lie underneath the shops' painted facades.  Overflowing flower baskets were in full bloom everywhere.

Ennis Street at Dusk - Stage 2

The last element added, and one that made Ennis quite memorable was the addition of the blue and yellow pennant streamers that crisscrossed the street.   We learned that the banners of yellow and blue that we saw on every surface in town were hung in support of the County Clare hurling team, which had made it to the All-Ireland Hurling Championship.  The team was the underdog who would play the final against the strong favorite, County Cork.  All the excitement occurred during our trip, including the final match which we watched in a pub (result was a tie), so we now consider ourselves the world's newest hurling fans!

Fast forward to the repeat of the Championship Game, due to the initial tie...County Clare was the victor.   Ennis must have been rocking!