No. 92. Daddy's Glazed Jug with Clementines

A few years ago, we brought our eldest daughter to Pompeii Paints in Stillorgan's Leisureplex for her ninth birthday. Anybody can go in and glaze any of their products and have it fired properly. It's a great outlet for creativity and very enjoyable, too. Our little one glazed this jug and wrote 'Daddy' on it, which is so sweet. I'll bring it out and wave it at her when she's a rebellious teenager!

I did this as a demonstration study for my students, one of whom had asked me about the technique of glazing. Essentially, the entire composition is worked out and painted tonally in grey before being tinted with transparent 'glazes' of oil colour. It's a very safe way of painting because any drawing or tonal errors can be corrected before colouring. All that glazing and no firing -it's even simpler than ceramics. Well done Daddy.

Oils on 5" x 7" gessoed panel. Costs €190 including frame [postage, packing included for customers in Ireland]

No. 91. Reflective Lemons

Yes, yes, yes...more bloody lemons. In fact they're the same lemons, this time painted alla prima. I bought the jug in a charity shop in Rathmines. I was looking for silver, rather than steel as silver has a warmer reflective value. Recently, I've been painting on boards that I've gessoed myself, with LeFrank & Bourgeois gesso. I like the flat feel -the oils glide on and I don't miss the tooth of the canvas panels at all. Anyway, at this size the tooth seems unnecessary. What's more is that I get a superior panel for a fraction of the cost of buying them. Result! Artist Richard Hearns got me on to this. He gave a few to me to try out -so, thanks, Richard.

I must say, it's very satisfying to paint a reflective object. There's always a while during the painting that it seems as if it just isn't going to work. Then -almost in the space of a few brush-strokes - it comes together. So; the watchword is perseverence.

Painted on 7" x 5" panel. Costs €190 including frame [postage, packing included for customers in Ireland]

No. 90. Renaissance Lemons

The lemons aren't from the Renaissance, obviously. I was trying out the old masters' method of painting. I painted out the composition in monochrome and the applied glazes of colour over the picture. Rather like old tinted photographs, I suppose. I used a lot of Liquin, instead of thinning the paint with an oils medium (I have no patience, you see).

I quite like this method, as it's difficult to go wrong - there's less of a chance to get confused between colour and tone, which can happen using the alla prima method. The entire composition is finished and ready before laying in colour. On the down side, paintings can look stilted and formal; lacking in that freedom and expression that comes with applying the paint and sculpting into position.

Painted on 6" x 5" panel. Costs €190 including frame [postage, packing included for customers in Ireland]

No. 89. Connemara Lake

Two versions of the same Connemara scene. I did a tonal study, just using burnt umber, ultramarine, yellow ochre and a touch of white .

I then moved on to a full colour study and embellished the scene with a couple of my own details -the little sailing boat, for example. Both are painted on 7" x 4" gessoed panels.

Connemara Monochrome:

Connemara Colours

No. 88. Achill Clouds

One of my students asked me how to paint clouds, which began a discussion of Paul Henry and his work in Achill. I had a photo of this ancient ruin handy so we both painted it together, leaving plenty of latitude for artistic licence. I painted on a reasonably bright orange ground that I left showing through in some places to give the sky a lively appearance, as if this is evening after another stormy day. I piled the clouds high, somewhat in the manner of Henry's style.

Oils on gessoed panel. 5" x 6". Costs €120 including frame [postage, packing included for customers in Ireland]

No. 87 Milk and Lemons

This is an exercise in painting white. White ceramics reflect everything around them so therefore, aren't white, if you catch my drift. The lightest paint on the palette is white, so that has to be reserved for the brightest highlight. So, everything else must be darker by a couple of degrees.

As for the lemons -there's the usual problem of describing the shadowed flesh on the slices, which I get by mixing a light yellow with a touch of ivory black and zinc white. Blimey -why am I trying to describe the colours in words? It's hard enough to do it in paint!

...and everything is darker than you think...ponder that one.

Painted on 7" x 5" panel. Costs €190 including frame [postage, packing included for customers in Ireland]

No.86. Tomato Juice

Tomatoes and a cup? I know, I know...but the cup has a good reflective surface and it's good practice to describe light-coloured objects. The ellipse around the lip of the cup was a job to paint, too. That's where a brush with a good, sharp chisel edge comes into its own. Oils on panel, 5" x 7".

No. 85. Baggot Street Bridge

One day, when we were all taken by surprise by the sudden appearance of summer, I curtailed my inspection of public buildings and turned my attention to Dublin's waterways. I strolled down to the canal lock by Baggot Street bridge to sit with Kavanagh and view beauty at it's lunch. The sun was high, the colours vivid and the whole scene shimmered and radiated warmth and I fleetingly caught that mood, unique to youth and all its possibilities.

I stood on the lock gates that span the canal and looked eastward to watch the canal as she turned the bend and imagined that I was in Delft.

This painting is in oils on stretched canvas: 16" x 20". Costs €750 including frame [postage, packing included for customers in Ireland].

Framing [IRL only]

Framed €750.00 Unframed €700.00 Option 3 €750.00

No. 84. Self-portrait. All about me, me, me.

What's this all about? I hear you ask. Well, it's about me -and about this blog becoming too much like a painting sales forecourt, when it was really only supposed to be about my development as an artist.

This is not the first self-portrait I've done by a long chalk. There are many others residing unfinished, in a kind of chamber of horrors in my garage -the opposite of Dorian Gray. I won't be showing them ever but I keep many of them to help me judge my development.

This little one [it's on a 5" x 7" MDF panel] took under an hour. I wanted to keep that looseness and energy that often gets lost as a painting becomes more refined. This is the first time I painted on such a vivid ground, too. Another thing is that I kept away from doing a drawing first; I just massed in tones and added details to bring the portrait out. I have a natural tendency towards detail and finessing and I'd like to be able to deviate from it sometimes. I like the effect that letting the intense blue background gives.

No. 83. Glass Reflections Study with Cherry Tomatoes

I set this still life composition up for my students on Thursday. They all enjoyed it despite it being more challenging than the usual simple arrangements of fruit, etc.. I decided to have a go myself after they all departed. Thinking that it'd be nice to get the entire tall bottle in, I selected an appropriately-sized canvas.

I kept the painting loose, by my standards and as you can see, there's a fair bit of texture.

Oils on stretched canvas. 14" x 10". Costs €550 including frame [postage, packing included for customers in Ireland].

No. 82. Nectarine in a Bright Bowl

I found this little shallow bowl in a charity shop in Rathmines. Is it an ashtray? Surely not? Let's say it's a knick-knack holder, an olive dish or something that has healthier associations. It's painted on a wood panel cut by artist Richard Hearns's fair hand and gessoed by mine. It's quite pleasing to paint on such a smooth surface. Next to the dish and nectarine is a glass jug, also found amongst the knick-knacks.

On another note, my nine-year-old daughter sat for me. Normally, it's a difficult proposition, to paint a fidgety child. How William Tell ever managed to get a clear shot at the apple on his son's head, I don't know. He must have had several sons, that's all I'm saying. My daughter came up with the solution, herself: Bring in the telly/DVD combination and place it such that she can concentrate on the screen with that commitment that only children can achieve. Before you think that I'm a weak and chinless father she wanted to watch my recent purchase; namely Rolf Harris's excellent series Star Portraits. Everybody happy.

Costs €190 including frame [postage, packing included for customers in Ireland]