Gallery
The Portarlington Suite
"Still I view each well known scene,
Think what is now and what has been"
The town of "Cúl an tSúdaire" (Back of the tannery). Like a great tree whose top shoots - perhaps even some of its branches - have been damaged, its roots remain strong. I have painted six pictures (oil paintings) of the town and its environs and form these created "The Portarlington Suite", a set of six hand-signed and numbered limited edition prints. There are 100 sets only.
The Images
The Railway Station - point of arrival and departure. A view from the crossover bridge, a moment frozen in time. The old footbridge indicating the various chronolgies that can inhabit a single space.
St Paul's - "The French Church" in the morning light. The bell tower "bright and glittering in the smokeless air".
A romantic look back at the Petty Sessions Courthouse in the centre of the square in a less hurried and less cluttered age.
Looking back, again in muted light, across the old Barrow bridge. Arlington House on the Laois side, immediatly to the right, and up French Church Street to St Paul's. A hurried pace is absent here.
The jagged, crumbling architecture of Lea Castle against an evening sky. Built by the Normans and inhabited at some time by O'Dempseys and latterly, adventure-seeking children.
The beautiful Barrow, only 2km from town. Not a building in sight, purified, almost, by a fresh Sunday morning rain shower.
These paintings were made in collaboration with Brosna Press, Ferbane, Co. Offaly. www.brosnapress.ie