[To see my Paintings for Sale - click HERE].
Striped Parenting
Sometimes I do small paintings and call them birthday cards.
New Paintings Sale - December 2011
New paintings for sale, launching at up to 50% less than regular price for a limited time. More paintings will be added up to Christmas Eve. Prices are based mostly on size. See each painting for shipping cost or collection details.
UPDATE Jan 1, 2012 - The Sale is now finished.
Skibbereen
And some older paintings also available for purchase:
There are also some abstract paintings which I don’t like to reduce so that I can hold onto them longer.
You could help me by telling others about them - blogging, tweeting, status updating etc. Thanks.
If you prefer not to use PayPal you can pay me direct - by cash or transfer or cheque/check. I actually prefer that as it saves me paying fees to PP, but work away on the PayPal links if that suits you best.
You can also save on shipping charges by collecting paintings from me at my studio in Lucan.
NOTE: Please let me know if you need your painting for Christmas - I’ll do what I can to get it in the post before the relevant date. If you missed the final posting date and can’t get out to my studio in Lucan, I can possibly meet you in town right up to Christmas Eve - but as I will be painting every day there are limitations (give me a shout)
Prints - Christmas 2011 Sale
In advance of my End-of-Year sale of new original paintings, you can get 30% off prints of my paintings at ImageKind.
Use the code 30ELF until 11.59pm EST on December 8th 2011 (which is 05.59am Dec 9 in Ireland & UK) for 30% off the prints of Ireland and the Birds/Wires series. There are currently 48 of my paintings available as prints.
ImageKind is a print-on-demand service. They print and post your order from the US. Unfortunately I can’t get you a print any quicker than you ordering it yourself from their site, but I am looking to switch to a service based in Ireland in 2012.
One-Day Flash Sale
[UPDATE: This sale is now finished. Watch this space for the forthcoming End-of-Year sale]
Here’s 6 older paintings reduced by 33% for just today.
I’m doing this for instantly needed funds (bike repairs, rent, food), so if you’re buying please note that payment is needed today - whether by bank transfer, paypal/credit card, or pigeon.
I don’t often do this, so the prices will be reverting to normal at the end of today and staying there through the forthcoming big end-of-year sale.
Painting: Blue September
The day after I finished my painting tour I was doing a painting workshop at the Lucan festival from where I was temporarily whisked away to Brittas Bay. The Wicklow excursion was for the Dip in the Nip for Blue September, where I was the official artist.
A night walk on the beach to get the feel of the location, and then it’s sunrise and back to the beach. A couple of hours walking, photographing, listening, and just looking, at waves, the strand, and the sky, before watching the few seconds that was the short run of naked men into the autumn Irish Sea.
And yesterday I completed this painting of the moment and handed it over at the Blue September presentation at the sponsor Takeda Ireland in Grange Castle, Dublin.
Blue September is painted on canvas, 50cm x 40cm x 4cm (20in x 16in x 1.5in)
Blue September is a global initiative that encourages men to be more aware of their health and more pro-active in protecting themselves against preventable and treatable diseases. Blue September Ireland is involved in raising awareness of bowel, lung, prostate and testicular cancer, while fundraising for the following Irish charities; Cancer Care West, The Marie Keating Foundation, The Mater Foundation and The Mercy Hospital Foundation.
The Eolaí Doll
About 20 years ago I started a series of matryoshka dolls based on a series of my jumpers. In a creative argument with myself I stopped after the first one. This is it (click to enlarge) with its half done children still nested inside.
You can see the eolaí doll in the flesh, so to speak, when you visit my studio.
My XtraCycle Gallery
This week it’s now 6 years - the first 2 in America, the last 4 at home in Ireland - since I bought what I can still say without reservation is the best thing I’ve ever bought - my XtraCycle.
Technically speaking XtraCycle is the name of the company and, although you can now buy complete cargo bikes from them, back then what started them and what I bought was a conversion kit that turned my bike into a cargo bike. The kit is called a FreeRadical.
A cross and combination between a rack, a hitchless trailer, panniers, and a child or even adult passenger seat, the beauty of what XtraCycle created is that when carrying no cargo your bike is just a bike rather than a big empty cargo bike. That and the low centre of gravity and long wheel base which makes carrying well, almost anything, not just possible but enjoyable.
Not pictured in this gallery are some of the larger loads I’ve carried on my bike, including my art display tent, a beanbag armchair and ottoman, my son’s bicycle, and my son.
And with the advent of my painting cycle tour of Ireland I expect I’ll have a fair few more photos to go with these and the dozens more I haven’t shown you.
A Painting Cycle Tour of Ireland
In July and August of 2011 I’m embarking on a painting cycle tour of Ireland centered on the world of social media.
Whilst aiming to cover all 32 historic counties, the route is determined by the location of those volunteering to host me. And in return for their feeding & sheltering of me for a night I’m doing a painting in their locale for them.
For information on where hosts are most needed, or how to commission me to cycle to anywhere in Ireland to paint a picture for you for less than half the usual commission rate, as well as answers to every other question you might have - see my Painting Tour website.
Original Painting Giveaway
To mark my 25,000th tweet, and a new painting sale about to start, I’m going to give an original painting away for free.
There are currently 36 paintings in the prizepool, and I’ll be adding another 18 new paintings to it over the life of this competition - which will run until Wednesday when the long-promised new painting sale should start. Should.
The first person to leave a comment on this blog (on http://bicyclistic.com - not on FaceBook or Twitter so that all answers are in one place on one timeline) telling me how many miles in total I cycled on my solo trip across America, can have their choice of a painting from the newly done up prizepool of paintings.
The idea of this competition is that anybody can play because anybody can guess, but if you’re familiar with my blog - or more specifically the journal of my cycle across America - then you might be in a better position to guess. But you don’t have to ready any of it, and can just guess.
In the event of nobody guessing (or working out?) the exact answer then the person whose guess is closest wins the painting. Just one guess per person please. On the off chance you are one of the handful of people on the planet who might actually know the answer because I once told you, well you obviously aren’t eligible to play. Where other rules aren’t specified, and prove to be necessary, common sense will apply.
Please don’t include your basis for your guess, or your workings, with your guess as it’s not fair on people who have guessed before you. If you do I’ll probably edit them out.
Note that paintings in the prizepool are also for sale so should any be purchased before the competition ends then they won’t be available as the free painting for the winner.
If you don’t like any of the paintings in the prizepool - either now or when the extra 18 paintings are added - well, someone you know might and I’d be grateful if you tweeted, blogged, shared etc. a link to the competition.
Photo: Goldfinch
Perhaps because of their beauty I’ve always struggled to take a good photograph of a goldfinch.
Yesterday one came to my balcony at the studio - for just long enough to know there would be no point reaching for the camera. More usual sightings are cameo appearances amid a clutter of branches or an overwhelming delight that is a charm of goldfinches making their way past you.
On TwitPic I posted an example of how they seem to know where both your camera and the sun is, as if to ensure you won’t get a good photo (enlarge it when you get there).
This photo of a goldfinch, taken in poor light, is the best I’ve yet managed.
Beautiful from every angle, it’s really a side view that does them most justice, for unlike their American cousins of the same name, European goldfinches are not canary yellow over most of their bodies but take their name from the yellow bar on their wings. The outrageous flag that is their face and head combination of red, white, and black, is also best seen from the side.
I do realise that outside the window I could hang some nuts and seeds to their liking, and then happily click away - but that’s not what I’m talking about.
More Photos
• Dublin, A Horse
• S is for Swans
• No Parking
• Loads of Photos
