Artist Statement for ‘On Land and Water’
The subject matter of my work for anyone that knows it, is more or less consistent with what I started painting more than twenty years ago.
The paintings for ‘On Land and Water’ are derived from the constant feeling of being drawn back to the landscape of my surroundings in Sligo that continually compels me to reinterpret this subject.
I spend a lot of my time observing, while fly fishing from the boat on the lakes and sometimes the anticipation of the hatch can be the magical moment, where time stands still and you are helplessly spellbound by the beauty of nature.
Observing the landscape is a continuous wonderful experience, where images are constantly recorded and the notion of the feeling, or essence of the landscape, rather than just the visual are conjured up from the familiar. The paintings evolve from layering, scraping, removing and reworking until the image reveals itself and is accepted as the resolution of the preconceived. I continue to interpret the land and water around me and can never expect to be finished.
This exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Paddy Creaven, founder of Cregal Art Galway.
