Boathouse, De Vesci Estate

While mainland Europe is suffering the worst rain in years, we in Ireland are basking in sunshine. Its very difficult to be indoors and painting when I can be out and about looking for inspiration. This weather is truly unusual with very little wind. The sort of weather for ‘en plein air’ painting, you might think.

We all have our own way of producing paintings but I prefer to bring my camera on my inspirational trips and gather as much visual information as I can. These photos are my reference which I will use when the ‘idea’ of the painting takes shape. Most of them I will never use.

This painting is an typical example of my working process. Its a year since I was here at this little boathouse. The ‘idea’ of the painting took that length of time to ferment. I checked my photos and they were nothing like my ‘memory’ of that occasion. But these photos had the details like the woodwork of the roof and the wrought iron railing which I had no memory of.

Anyway, at the time of my visit it would have been impossible to paint this scene as it was, because of the restrictions of time and space. I think photography is a very useful tool in situations like this, especially now with the easy to use digital cameras.

Here is the video of the painting process of this painting. See you soon.