Coast Study

Having alot of fun doing these sort of quick daily paint studies, great way of sharpening your painting skills

Portrait Commission

This is a recent commission where I was hired to do a graphite drawing of a persons father (that recently passed away) for his mother for Christmas. Was a great commission to work on, as a memento to someone and their memory.

Pet Portraits Commission

Fritz 

Shelbie

Recently I was hired to do a pet portrait, I have many pets over the years, which I have been close to, I always hated that word though, 'pet', doesnt really describe the relationship in my eyes. One of the things I miss the most about living in apartment is the lack of having pets, they are the best of company really. So when I was commissioned to do a pet portrait I was delighted to give it a go.

The first is a portrait of my dead pet, named Fritz, I took a run at him as a form of practice but also to remember what it was like to lose a pet and how much it means. The second is the actual commissioned portrait of Shelbie,  

Youghal Barber Shop

A few months ago I was commissioned to paint No.92 in Youghal town centre in Cork. It belonged to the commissioners family long ago and was a barber shop then as it is still to this day. Painting was done on A5 HP paper, using Watercolour Pans & Gouache

Forest Study

Been studying forests for the last good while now, whenever I get the chance I try to leave the city and go wondering in one. I have visited loads in the Cork region in the last year or so, been wondering in them, soaking them in, and also, of course, sketching them. This is a larger art study of a forest I have completed. I have been trying out new techniques and ideas with ink recently, and seeing what fits and what doesnt with my inking style. Also Im experimenting to see if I can get the complexity of the a forest and some of the feel of them, their intricate detail and richness.

Bweeng/Na Boinn, wedge tomb/tuama Dingeach

Not far from the tiny village of Bweeng, on the eastern hills of the Boggeragh mountain range is this wedge tomb. The tomb rests on the north slope of a little hill about 260 metres high, which has the river Glashaboy/An Ghlaise Bhuí just north of it, and the stream Cummeen/An Coimín to the south of it. Gazing from the tomb east you can see the glens softly undulating and small meadows stretching out between it and the Nagles hills in the east and looking north and west you are greeted with views of large lumps rising up which are Boggeraghs. According to Ó Donaill the name 'na Boinn' (which Bweeng comes from) is the plural of Bonn which is sole, so my guess is the name would translate as "the soles", perhaps suggesting the soles of the mountains which this hill marks the eastern side of or maybe that a part of this area is shaped like the sole of a foot.

 The Tomb is situated on a country road which if you were coming from the north is the last turning on the R619 before you come into the town of Bweeng. You can see it clearly from the country road, its essentially two fields up on a small dirt track beside a house on the left hand side. The tomb is quite huge actually, making me think perhaps its related to the nearish 'Labbacallee wedge tomb' which is further north near Glanworth. Unfortunately while the northern part of the tomb is still erect, the southern part has collapsed and been covered in grass, making it lopsided, but judging by what is there, it must have been truly impressive sight in its day. As said previously the views from this tomb both East, West and North are great but the views south are obstructed by the Hill it is on, so perhaps it is the other directions which are the focus of this tomb.

Perspective plays a big part in how we view the landscape we inhabit, a persons age, gender, professional or their social position all alter the way they view the landscape, as some have said, there is never one landscape but many. One must remember when viewing landscape we are continually changing it, by just looking we alter and re-interpret it, it is never just left alone, both of these points were as true back in prehistoric times as it is now. When we put something before us in nature, whatever is, like the jar in Wallace Stevens poem 'Anecdote of the Jar', it transforms the wilderness around it, even tames  it, it makes the vastness of nature compact and more easily understandable to us. Perhaps the same perspective was what the megalithic builders were doing, by placing a tomb in nature, they were taming it, transforming it. Just as a path or the main subject in a painting focuses the eye, so too does a megalithic monument. It is ideas like these which is one of the more interesting aspects of Megalithic culture, even though we can never truly divorce ourselves from our own time and culture, I believe these people have the most to teach us in the trying, as they are the most different, most alien from us. 

Inchincurka Wedge Tomb/Inse an Choirce Tuama Dingeach

On the R585, or as its known in locally as the "back road to Bantry", just beyond Shanlaragh as your heading for the Cousane Gap between the Maughanaclea Hills and the Shehy Mountains, sits this monument in a field right next to a T junction. Its on relatively flat field which offer modest views of the Shehy Mountains rising up to the west, as the Cummernamart river snakes up north past it, the entrance to this tomb points to both but its most likely the mountains which its focus is. This part of west Cork is littered with monuments, quite a few others on the eastern foothills of the Shehy mountains which offer beautiful views of Bantry Bay beyond. The name of the townland is Inchincurka, 'Inse an Choirce' in its original Irish,which Ó' Donaill has 'Inse' meaning  'water meadow',  while P.W. Joyces elaborates it as 'a low meadow along a river'. The other part of the name is 'Coirce' which are 'Oats', so a translation may be 'water meadow of oats'.

The tomb itself is nicely overgrown, alot of the interior has been engulfed by plants, and the northern side is nearly entirely invisible under it, from that angle it looks almost like a bat with the two portal stones giving the appearance of ears. The tomb itself is a great example of a wedge tomb as you can quite clearly see the wedge shape which gives these tombs their name. Looks like there is some double walling too which can be seen in other wedge tombs like Labbacallee, Island or Knockagoun. Often these sort of tombs are called 'Leaba' in Irish, which can be short for 'Leaba Dhiarmada is Ghráinne' or 'Diarmuid and Gráinne's bed'. They were said to have been made by Diarmuid and Gráinne as nightly beds in their long flight from Fionn's and the Fianna's wrath after they ran away together.

The megalithic builders were the first to alter the landscape, as Gabriel Cooney points out, it was they who first farmed with cereal, reared cattle, and cleared the land. We dont think about it these days as its so normal now, but it must have been a revolution in thought, as what they were doing was controlling nature. By extension this must have made them have a greater sense of place and of belonging, as they were not just dwellers in the land but an active players in its system. While most of the alterations they made back then were temporary; a cow dies, a tree will regrow etc, there was one thing that was permanent though and was their tombs. These were mans first permanent statement  to the ages, but what what were they saying? I suppose we will never know for sure but I personally believe the answer is there when you visit these places.  When your at the site and if you look up, and gaze at what is around you, you are often blown away by a magnificient view that greets you. So for me unlike modern religions where they say "Look at us", look mans achievements with their buildings, I feel what they were saying is "Look at this" look at nature in all its glory.

Loch

Acrylic Ink on Arches 100 % Cotton Cold pressed paper,
10 x 7 inchs

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Loch is a lake, can also be a sea inlet or a pool according to Dineen, it is still most commonly a lake, which is defined by the Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia as a large body of water surrounded by land,  finally loch is 'Lacus' in Latin and 'Llyn' in welsh.  The word Loch is used in Ireland and Scotland, while in Ireland it tends to be anglified as Lough, in Scotland the original Irish spelling is kept, Loch. Most lake names in Ireland use the word loch like Lough Leane in Killarney, which P.W. Joyce says the Dinnshenchas claims its from Lean of the white teeth, a craftsman who forged on the shore, probably highly fanciful but always fun to get the imaginative too.

The painting is of one of the two Sgillogue lochs in the Comeragh mountains in county waterford, nestled between Coumlara and Coumguarha, its a beautiful part of the mountains with views of the Nire Valley below. These lochs are two little cirque (Com in Irish, hence Comeragh mountains), which are hollows created during the forming of a glacier. There are several other kinds of lakes, some are those formed after tectonic plates move, others are in craters, and others are called Oxbow lakes and are formed when a part of a river gets cut off from the main course.

What we dont realise usually, is that language is a bridge, its the bridge we build when we want to connect the inside itself, with the outside world. A language is shaped by the history of a people, each generation trying to express both what was around them and what was in them and connect the two. Placenames are an embodiment of this, they are the bridge between our landscape and language, both of which we use as mediums. This is true for all cultures, as much for French or German as Irish, language and the world around it, have changed and grew together, making the experience of either without the other, only half the story.

Bibliography

1.    An Irish-English dictionary, J. O'Brien, 1832,
2.     Irish names of places, Vol 1, P.W. Joyce
3.     Irish local names explained Vol1, P.W. Joyce, 1902
4.     Folclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla, Rev. Patrick S. Dinneen, 1904,
5.    OSI Discovery Map 75
6.    The Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia, 2001
7.    The Dorling Kindersley Illustrated Factopedia, 1995
8.    Listening to the Landscape, Tim Robinson, The Irish Review, No. 14, An Ghaeilge: The Literature and Politics of Irish(Autumn, 1993), pp. 21-32Reviewed
9.    "Before I Forget…": Seán Mac Labhraí, Journal of the Poyntzpass and District Local History Society, No.3 (Nov., 1989)

Bearna

Bearna is the Irish word for a gap or chasm, usually a mountain gap or a gap through high land. Often this word appears in placenames and is commonly anglified as Barna. The particular Bearna drawn here is 'Bearna an Choimín' or better known for its English name 'the Gap of Dunloe', near Killarney in Kerry. Bearna are formed because of glacial processes, mostly in Ireland they were formed in the Ice ages. All glaciers originally start high up in the mountains, in hollows or cirque (called 'Com' in Irish) facing north-east where the snow melts slower because of less sunlight. When snow builds up more than it melts the snow ice crystalises from the compression turning the snow hard and blue into what is known as a firn. Once the firn reaches a depth of around 30 metres, gravity forces the ice out of the Com or cirque down to the glen below. Freeze thaw action causes more stones to fall into the glacier giving it teeth in which to tear at the landscape, reshaping it in the process. As long as more snow is added than lost the glacier will continue to edge forward. The Gap of Dunloe was formed in a similar way, when a glacier created in a high up in a Com or Cirque, crept out of its birth and cut its way accross a ridge, deepening it and creating the Bearna.

In some ways placenames, like so many aspects of Irish culture, reflect our history. There are placenames from each culture that have come here, from Viking Old Norse to Norman French to Colonial English.  Placenames even feature heavily in our early mythology for instance a big part of 'Agallamh na Seanórach', a book about the Fianna and St Patrick, is about placenames. There was even a strand of medieval Irish poetry about placenames called 'Dinnshenchas'. So there has been a long  facination in this culture with placenames, either in the naming of it, and so laying claim to it for whatever purpose, to the use of placename as a way of illustrating and enlivening a myth or poem. Perhaps this is what makes placenames so facinating in this country, learning and exploring them often teaches you alot about our culture and history but also can contain great tales, full of  imagination.
 

References

1.  Joyce, P. W. The origin and history of Irish names of places. Volume 3, 1920.
2.  Joyce, P. W. The origin and history of Irish names of places. Volume 1, 1920.
3.  FOCLÓIR GAEDHILGE AGUS BÉARLA- Patrick Dinneen
4.  Irish Place Names- Deirdre Flanagan & Laurence Flanagan- Gill&MacMillan- 2002
5.  Folclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla - An Irish-English dictionary, being a thesaurus of the words, phrases and idioms of the modern Irish with explanations in English (1904)
6.  An Irish-English dictionary (1832)- J. O'Brien
7.  From Foclóir Gaeilge- Béarla, Niall Ó Donaill
6.  Cork and Kerry Townlands Names in Irish and English- An tOrdú Logainmneacha (Contae Chorcaí seachas ceantair Ghaeltachta) 2012
7.  Planet & People- leaving certificate geography- Sue Honan & Sue Mulholland
8.  The World Book Encyclopedia of Science- The Planet Earth
9.  The Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia, 2001
10.  The Dorling Kindersley Factopedia, 1995
11.  Reading the Irish Landscape- Frank Mitchell & Michael Ryan, 2003

Glaisín

Glaisín is the Irish word for little stream, in English it could be pronounced as Glasheen, and it is this spelling which is often used in Anglicised Irish place names. Glaisín comes from Glais, which means stream, in Irish an 'een' sound (spelt 'ín') is added to make something smaller, many Hiberno English words with 'een' in the end come from this.  Rivers are the most glorified of water systems, but even the widest once started as small streams, in Ireland 135 millions years ago, chalk deposits were laid down while Ireland was submerged in warm water, after Ireland rose out of the sea it was weathered and eroded, this is when the first streams were formed, which later still, became the rivers we know today. These days streams are formed up high, in mountains and hills, mostly in Ireland they start, from what else, but rain (sometimes melt from snow and ice as well but thats not as fun to complain about), as it rains the water is absorbed into the ground via cracks, eventually this water builds up over time until it then pours out forming a spring. Next gravity kicks in forcing the water down towards sea level, causing the water to trickle down forming streams, over many years these streams then erode their beds, forming rivers.

Landscape art and placenames have alot in common, one represents a selection of an area of land in a visual form, another in a verbal and literary form. To make land into landscape we have to focus on a particular part, land can cover many kilometres, too much for one viewing. So when an artist decides what is good in a land, what to turn into landscape, we are focusing on one aspect of the countryside which we think is more interesting than others. Placenames perform a similar function, showing what was and is worth focusing on, marking an area out, and drawing attention to it in order to show a landscape.  Exactly like with Glaisín, the people who made the placename were right, as this little stream, even after all the human additions around it, it is still the nicest part of the area, and the place most worth focusing on.


References

1. Joyce, P. W. The origin and history of Irish names of places. Volume 3, 1920.
2. Joyce, P. W. The origin and history of Irish names of places. Volume 1, 1920.
3. FOCLÓIR GAEDHILGE AGUS BÉARLA- Patrick Dinneen
4. Irish Place Names- Deirdre Flanagan & Laurence Flanagan- Gill&MacMillan- 2002
5. Folclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla - An Irish-English dictionary, being a thesaurus of the words, phrases and idioms of the modern Irish with explanations in English (1904)
6. Cork and Kerry Townlands Names in Irish and English- An tOrdú Logainmneacha (Contae Chorcaí seachas ceantair Ghaeltachta) 2012
7. Planet & People- leaving certificate geography- Sue Honan & Sue Mulholland
8. The World Book Encyclopedia of Science- The Planet Earth
9. The Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia
10. Reading the Irish Landscape- Frank Mitchell & Michael Ryan

Lackaduv Wedge Tomb/Leaca Dubh Tuama Dingeach

"The sídh or gods that dwell in the earth"

The above is an excerpt from a 7th century biography on St Patrick, it refers to the Carns, heaps or mounds of stones that often have tombs inside like the one above. Sídh is the name given to the homes of the gods but eventually became synonymous with the gods themselves, these were the old gods, known also as the Tuatha De Danann. According to myth when the Gaels first came from Spain they fought these gods of Ireland in a huge battle at Tailtiú. But while the Gaels won, the old gods still had their magic and so used it to poison the land and so starving the Gael into a negotiated peace. In the ensuing treaty the country was divided in two, the upper half went to the Gael or man and the lower half went to the Gods. While christianity eventually changed the beliefs of the Irish the faith still lingered on and with time these old gods became more mystical creatures, what we know today as fairys.

Off the regional road  R582 from Macroom, there is a small flat slopping hill 303 metres high, this is where the above monument lies, it is the slope which gives the monument it's name, 'Lackaduv', coming from the Irish 'An Leaca Dhubh' meaning the black hillside. This monument is up the hill from another wedge tomb I previously drew, Scrahanard, in this region nearly every slope has a tomb on it, with several on the slopes facing this one. The views from here are truly impressive; to the west you get the start of the Derrysnasaggart mountains, to the east you can see  the Burren mountain jutting out of the mist at the base of the Boggeragh mountain range, to the south are the plains and glens below. These plains give the main settlements of the area their names, Macroom from Maigh Chromtha (plain of the crooked ford) and Clondrohid from Cluain Droichead (Plain or meadow of the bridge).

Stone is one of the oldest forms to exist on earth, ancient and immortal, its mindblowing to look at the land through the eyes of stone. Stone which has been witness to millions and millions of years. Perhaps it is a twinkling of this which lead the early farmers to make their monuments from this material. These monuments may represent their sense of place, their understanding of land and their relationship to it. Perhaps it is one closeness, that the megalithic builders were often the first farmers, the first that started to live away from the natural land towards a landscape of their creation. That this break from the land is what they were symbolising with their monuments, monuments built looking back at their previous existences. Perhaps this was still very fresh, so their connection to the land was much stronger. If they came from elsewhere they would certainly met the previous inhabitants of this land wondering around in the wilds hunting and fishing, if not then they were those same people adapting new techniques of living.Whatever the case maybe, it seems to me that these monuments represent a closeness to nature, often they are covered over with a cairn, burying them inside nature. Even if they are not, they are often built with the landscape in mind, making the landscape their cathedral or house of worshop, both of which are not surprising from a people not that far removed from nature.

Glantane East Wedge Tomb/ An Gleanntán Thoir Tuama Dingeach

On the R582 from Millstreet in a little valley between the Boggeragh and Derrynasagart Mountains just above the keel river is a megalithic complex which this monument belongs to. In the field beside this tomb there is a stone circle flanked by 2 Gallán or standing stones. There is nice views of the little valley below from the stone circle, this little valley is what gives this area its name, Glantane from the Irish 'Gleanntán', meaning little glen or valley. From the wedge tomb the views are more impressive of the mountains, shown in this illustration is the misty Boggeraghs in the east looming large over the tomb and the little glen. If you were to turn west, there are nice views of the Derrynasaggart mountains as well. It makes me think that this monument was created to emphasise the mountains, while the stone circle had the glen below as its focus, perhaps hinting at what the different periods worshipped in nature. 

There are two old names in Irish common for these tombs, one is Leaba which means bed but can mean grave too, another is Leacht, meaning tomb or grave. Both are also used with other tombs found in Ireland too like Court tombs and Portal tombs. This wedge tomb looks like it's on its last legs, with some portions of the capstone no longer supported by its flagstones. Would be a real shame if it fell over though as it's a really nice small tomb.

The deep dark under the capstone of wedge tombs always make me feel like I am looking into another world beyond the darkness. As some have remarked what we are looking at maybe the entrance to a house of death i.e. a tomb. Perhaps some of them and their alignment to celestal bodies is for this reason, with the darkness of the tomb and the darkness of the night linked. Perhaps this is an echo of one of their functions, as a burial place, a keyhole into another world, whatever after life they believed in. The Irish landscape is littered with monuments to the dead, showing how important this aspect of human life is, the life after. Perhaps the location for these monuments was chosen because they stand out in the horizon on a hill, so meant to act as a daily reminder to those working in the glens below of their ancestors and heritage. But also it may have been located there to show those passing by, who owns this land, to mark out their terroritory. A few tombs may have been built close together marking out how far their territory went. What better way to guard your borders than placing your ancestoral spirits there, minding it spiritually, while you mind it physically.