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The painting workshop was self directed however we were asked to bring in a photograph, an object and a collage relating to our chosen subject matter. The task of taking, finding and making these three objects made me consider my subject matter greatly. I had a general idea that I wanted to base my painting work on the concept of home, place and the rural landscape. It was with this idea in mind that I began rooting in the shed for old pieces of china that my Granny once owned. I found a plentiful supply of willow pattern items that I fondly remember seeing every time I visited my Granny.

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churchill willow pattern blue willow cup and saucer

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I then began taking some photographs around my own house and my Grannys house as they are in close proximity to one another. My focus point was first on the farm yard as I snapped a few photos of the sheep and cows that are still present on my Granny and Granddads farm. However I then photographed the old county road making sure to include the stone walls and the grass that divides the road in the shot. I then placed a pair of wellingtons in the middle of the road and created my photograph.

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For the collage, I ripped up old magazines concentrating on getting various sections of colour and incorporating them into my piece. I choose to collage I window scene looking onto the fields. This window sill featured my Grannys cup and I really liked the composition that I created.

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My subject matter for the painting workshop developed into a dividing world between interior and exterior.

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To begin the painting workshop we all painted wooden boards with white paint. It was important that the two coats of paint on these were going in different directions. Once these were dry we transferred our drawn composition onto the boards. The drawing was completed in pencil in order for the lines to be erased if necessary while working on the painting.

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Using acrylic paint, I began blocking in my base colours to give an insight into the  colours we were using but also into the image as a whole. Originally I was working on two paintings but as the workshop continued I favoured one over the other.

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During the rest of the week I worked on the finer details of the painting. I found that the acrylics were difficult to mix and change once they dried on the board.

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I found myself painting over large sections of the painting especially the window in order to get straight lines and I think this caused the painting to be a bit too dark. I also needed more time in the workshop to give more shading variation to the cup which is the main element of the painting.

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I was really happy with the window effect that I achieved on this painting. I used a sponge and some white paint and lightly dabbed over the glass sections of the window. This technique gave a blurry, hazy and foggy kind of result and it worked well with the well detailed window sill and cup.

The composition also worked quiet nicely and I hope to cut this painting into a square when it is fully dry. The square will act as another window like shape and I think it will improve the piece a lot.

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Ciara based her painting workshop on Byron Bay Lighthouse and her experience and memory of visiting this place. Ciara's first painting incorporated both her photograph but also the objects that she had collected which included some rope and seaweed. It was Ciara's second painting that I really liked as she began to focus in on a small section of her objects. She choose to do a detailed study of the piece of seaweed that she had brought in with her focusing on its colour and on its texture.

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She used piece of masking tape to mimic the texture of the seaweed and it worked brilliantly. As she painted over the small pieces of tape Ciara really captured the surface quality of the algae.

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It was Colins stlye of painting that intrigued me as his brushstrokes were so loose, free and expressive that his painting was very successful. This approach to painting was very different to mine yet the subject matter was similar to mine as we both created pieces from our homeland.

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Colins work looks into the landscape of Lough Ree and he includes a fox which is hanging right in the centre of his beautiful colour study. The composition of the piece works well as the viewers eye is brought downwards to be forced to face this dead animal.

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Fergal worked on acetate for the week and I thought his final piece was very good. I really liked how he choose to not present the bold black lines to the viewer yet the dabs of paint that create the images are a lot more impressive. Fergal had three acetate pieces of cows, a castle and of some floral items found around the Castleroache.