Garden Paintings
My wife Ursula died in 2023 and she was the garderner. I have attempted to keep our garden neat and tidy and have employed a gardener to undertake quarterly 'clean ups' so that it doesn't get completely out of control. He advised me to cut paths through the grass rather than cut it and leave it open to wild flowers. It will allow my grandsons to run through the paths and have adventures.
Like any other garden it changes through the seasons and occasionally when it wants to. I have an idea as to what those changes are and have also made notes on the garden in an observational way. So although some paintings may be identified as representing the seasons, others may be seen as responses to small changes that may only occur over a 24 hour period. Occsionally while travelling in foreign countries I note that an Irish season is very obviously different to a season in another geography. My paintings may sometimes reflect that distinction.
This is how these paintings came about and follow in a long tradition of artists responding in their unique way to observing the environment that they live in or pass through. And, as in all my work, I seek the essence taking my thinking from Platonism rather than the discription of my observed experience. So, these individual paintings and studies are the idea of a garden and not the illustration of an actual garden.
They are all called Fiacre and numbered in Roman numerals. St Fiacre is the patron saint of Gardeners.
See the Gallery Page under the heading Garden Paintings.