[To see my Paintings for Sale - click HERE].
Linking The Love
Time to share. Though really it’s to acknowledge those who’ve shared.
• Yesterday Markham Nolan paid a visit to my studio in relation to a project, of which more another day. Here’s a photo of me Markham took as he finished up and I showed him my favourite position in my studio while pointing at County Kildare.
• Rather a lot of people on Tumblr have blogged, re-blogged, and liked my sketch of Genoa that I did while visiting friends in Italy. I’m not sure why I made it enlargeable to a size bigger than the original Moleskine page though.
• One of the nicest things somebody could say about a painting of mine was said a few weeks ago by Dena referring to a painting she bought last year. It was the 1st painting sold in my big August ‘09 online sale.
Photo: Sunbathing Swallows
Sunbathing. They didn’t do this very often.
The swallows came in to my studio when it rained, for shelter. When it was hot they came in and flew around my head, fanning me as I painted. They chattered away in the rafters, like children, as I told them to keep it down because I was trying to concentrate. They nested and I watched their young grow up as I took dozens of blurred photos of them being fed.
And they came into my studio and pooped all over my paintings.
In the evenings the stableyard was magnificent with them. When they left, the yard got cold and lost its joy. I’m expecting them back in a week or so, and really looking forward to it. It’s been a long winter.
There would appear to be a housemartin also sunbathing with the swallows. The one with the white rump. This photo is not cropped. It was taken from my studio last summer. I wonder how they’ll feel when they come in and see I have a new roof.
More Photos
• Literary Parade, St Patrick’s Park, Dublin
• Half Moon Over Snowy Roofs
• Lower Ormond Quay
• Loads of Photos
Bicyclistic: Year One
A few weeks ago this blog was 1-year old. Here’s a quick guide to how Year 1 went.
For the most part Bicyclistic is a personal blog about cycling from a dog to a studio, painting pictures, taking photos and drinking tea.
Competitions
The most popular posts in terms of interactions are the free painting competitions where I ask a question that everyone can at least guess. Probably the one that was the most fun of all of these was the one where I asked you to Identify Those Animals that a friend’s child said he could see in a painting of mine.
Photos
It was always planned to include photos, along with artwork, but in early summer ‘09 I got tennis elbow which curtailed painting, so photos started to appear more regularly. They receive most comments on FaceBook where the blogposts are pulled in automatically. Probably the most popular photo-post was my multi-photo collage of garage doors in Dublin lanes.
Drawings
Drawings have featured not as much as I would have hoped nevertheless my drawing of Genoa done in Italy, and my left-handed drawing of Neil Gaiman remain popular posts.
The Studio
The life of the studio is threaded throughout, from the very 1st post showing the space as I moved in, to the stableyard where it’s located, to appearing on other sites, and ultimately the upheaval of the recent re-roofing.
Memories
There’s been less of these than intended, but they’ve been popular posts in terms of reaction - most of it off-blog - The Other Semi-Final and A Night in London being the most popular .
Paintings
And all the time there are paintings. As well as showing the odd painting in progress, there were also sales hosted here, 2 that followed shows, the rest exclusively online, in March ‘09, in April ‘09, in Aug/Sep ‘09, in Nov/Dec ‘09, and in March 2010 (which is technically Year 2).
Year 2
In year 2 there are a couple of regular features I plan to start, one featuring drawings and another featuring photos. There should also be a lot more photo collages - indeed I’ve taken the photos for 4 new ones already but need to assemble them. And if the roof stays on the studio, and my arm doesn’t suffer tennis elbow again then there should be twice as many paintings (with twice as many giveaways).
The bicycle and the dog are also likely to be more prominent.
Thanks for Year 1.
Photo: Weir Descent by Kayak
Another scene from my bicycle in Dublin. This Liffey scene was taken a couple of days ago just as I reached my studio - the weir is across the road from the entrance to the estate where my studio is.
I stopped to watch a couple of kayakers descend and then climb back up the far side. Because of the collection of colours against the water I took half a dozen photos - which is a lot for me - but this one captures the descent best.
And because of the green and orange I saved it for posting today, St Patrick’s Day. I’m sentimental like that, and subtly garish.
More Photos
• Cobblestones
• Dublin, A Horse
• No Parking
• Loads of Photos
Photo: M50 Pedestrian Bridge, Sunset
Whenever I do an overnight painting session I try to leave my studio the next day while it’s still bright. Daylight cycling being that much more pleasant and easier, it’s a reward I try to give myself for the previous night’s sleep deprivation. The painting itself usually dictates, but when I get it right I find myself crossing the M50 at sunset.
And this, with the sun setting behind me, is the view I then get of the pedestrian/cycle-path bridge over the M50 there between the N4 and the Westlink.
At this stage I have a lot of photos of Dublin’s pedestrian bridges over its relatively new major roads. The metal ones tend to make the best photographs, or at least the best shapes, and I’m a sucker for the golden shine of a sunset on metal. You tend not to see that travelling faster than the speed of a bicycle.
More Photos
• The doors of Dublin Lanes
• Dublin, A Horse
• The Oval, A Pub in Dublin
• Loads of Photos
Exhibition of Paintings at Irish Blog Awards 2010
At the 2010 Irish Blog Awards at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Galway I will be exhibiting some paintings.
[UPDATE: See the IBA 2010 paintings here ]
New Paintings
At this point I can’t tell you exactly how many paintings - because they’re not finished yet. The plan is to show paintings that haven’t been shown before, either online or in another exhibition.
Paintings in Progress
Follow this blog, and/or me on twitter, to get an idea of what paintings I’m working on. If you already do then you’ll have seen and/or heard of several of them already.
Watch Me Painting Live
While in progress these new paintings will feature on some live painting sessions courtesy of a webcam in my studio and Ustream.tv
Free Painting
I’ll try and organise another free painting blog guessable competition thing to coincide with the awards - we haven’t done one for a while. I need to add more paintings into the prizepool though, as well as think of a question.
Current Online Sale
I still have almost finished a fair few paintings that are not destined for the Blog Awards. While I now will be concentrating on the paintings for Galway I expect to finish some of the other ones over the next 2 weeks and add them into the current online half-price sale thing.
Bloggers
When I first started blogging about my paintings it never occurred to me that I would love blogging, not because it sells paintings but, because the blogs of others tell me about the people who are buying my paintings. I am thrilled to be part of the Blog Awards, and thank Damien for the opportunity to share my paintings with bloggers.
Galway
See you at the Radisson on March 27th. I’ll be wearing a lot of hair, a nervous frown, and a woolly jumper. Register to attend the awards
Painting Live
Today, and from time to time in the future, you can watch me painting live in my studio in Dublin.
There’s nothing planned or structured - as of yet anyway - but if you’re the sort of person who likes watching paint dry you might get something out of watching paintings inch forwards (and sometimes backwards) live.
March 2010 Paintings
A new sale of paintings. For the 1st week these were at half-price with free shipping worldwide.
Announcements of new paintings are made first on twitter and then this page will be updated.
Photo: Geese Over Dublin West
This photo of a large flock of Geese flying over Dublin West I took last week while out with the dog. I’m weak on Geese but I think they’re Barnacle Geese. They caught my eye flying from over Chapelizod to Ballyfermot but then did a 180 degree turn.
Yes, I cropped this photo - there was a GAA goalpost ruining the shot.
More Photos
• The doors of Dublin Lanes
• Angkor Wat
• Runners, Rook
• Loads of Photos
Photo: Moss, Sunshine and Frost
I’m one of those people who likes moss so much it takes great discipline to resist taking hundreds of photos of the stuff. But I’ve probably taken a few dozen. This shot was of some moss in Lucan by my studio, taken as I went down to the village one cold morning for some milk.
More Photos
• Dublin, A Horse
• No Parking
• Snowy Sunset, Dublin
• Loads of Photos
