Dead Dog

I think the cat did it

Lahinch

Lahinch this morning

photos used for lino-cut

Christmas is over time to get back to the art.went down to lahinch this morning to walk the dog on the beach. Took some photos and did a lino cut when I came home , I like it , I'm getting the hang of them . I found with this one I could visulise the end result while doing it , othertimes things have ended up facing the wrong way etc.

Doctors Rock

No one has ever seen doctors rock from a distance ,standing alone in all its glory and splendid colours. If you could it would be a wonder but you cant. Although it's literally a stones throw from the diamond rocks cafe in Kilkee its almost 100 feet below the water , can only be approached on a low tide ,when the prevailing west wind is'nt blowing. even then a diver has to use experience and excellent compass skills to find it among the laberinth of gullies that make up the underwater topography of kilkee bay. The rock it's self is like a mushroom on a stalk worn smooth by millions of years of small boulders rubbing agianst it. It's about the size of a small office block and ABSOUTLY carpeted with the most vivid jewal anaemoies..I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THEY ARE SO VIVID . Even when the water is at it's clearest you can't see the whole rock , its like comming across a corner of a building in a dense fog , you work you're around and gradually get a sense of the whole. You cant see the ananemoies till you are a meter from them,you cant see their colour s till you shine a tourch on them, in the natural light they are greeny gray . If you take them out of the water the die and loose their colour , if the whole of Docters rock was lifted out of the sea maybe people could see itr,s glory for a few seconds before the anomies died but thats the only way.Irish waters are too murky and using lots of flash wont work , there is to much particulate matter causing scatter.

 So why is it so beautifull?

 Well its not art , the sea bugs arn't self aware , did god just make the world so beautifull that even the bits we dont or even cant see are gems , i really dont know but Docters rock has allways puzzled me

my photos of dr's rock

my painting of dr's rock

lanscape

I diid a straight foward landtscape today, its from a photo I took on the moterway while drivng to Nenagh

Grumpy Old Man

Bored tonight so I painted my self- portrait, scary is'nt it!

Suicide Tree

I made this today, its a depressing Christmass tree for those who can't face the festive season

Ice Wall

I was clearing out my stuff and made a wall with all those epoxy blocks I made at the beging of term, so I made a wall of them and photographed them aginst the winter sun it looks quite good

Turkey plate video

did an animation in oil paints on the family christmass turkey plate, I hope they forgive me, I got most of the oil paint off

rose bush crucifixion

did a few studies for what might be an animation

50 drawings in 20 minutes

I   did  50 deawings on acatate of people walking down the corridor in front on the canteen during a 20 minute period and made an animation of it

christmass present

got my christmass present today. he.s wrapped up agian and under the tree but i took a couple of photos first. He is st Frances 17th century and Spanish. He is wood and leather with glass eyes he has stood in a spanish church for over 300 years and is quite freaky looking

Stations; Finished project

I've finished my project and put up 3 pieces in the corridoor outside the canteen.  These and the Jesus's in the glass case is about it. If its about any thing, its about symbolism  in religious art and my self as a child. As a small  child growing up in England  I used to stay during the summer with my grand parents in Cobh.Their house was dark and full of holy statues and pictures.I found them mysterious, simultanously scary and comforting .As I grew up this mystery disapeared the world became more mundane . These pieces with their made up symbolism are an effort to put the mystery and wonder back. I think A lot of things , once explained loose their magic. This is true of Bob Dylan lyrics and almost all surealest art as well as religious art. it's like horror movies when you realise the alien is just a man in a rubber suit the illusion is broken. its best just to suggest rather than show too much

Beast

I finished another religiousy piece today. It's quite ugly and aggressive  I don't know why I didn't mean it to be.(Thats a bit of a fib, I did of course but only as I was doing it. Arts a bit like that it does seem to have a life of it's own)

I started life classes today lots and lots of short poses very hard work and tiring. This is a 5 minute pose , it's pretty enough ( unlike Mr Jesus).

Christ of the rose bush

I got some pieces out of the klin today the Christ figure on the rose bush was almost perfect. I took some photos of him aginst the sky, shrubbery and the ceramics building. That is fitting because the college used to be a convent. My Jesus has a willy so I hope the nuns dont disprove. My other Jesus fell to bits a little in the klin, so maybe the nuns got their revenge, any way I've stuck him together and he looks ok. Also did wood cut of a little girl in the dark wood persued by demons, reallyl must do something more cheerful, after all it is Christmas