“Horrible and Stunning all at once” is one definition of humanity.

The painting, an abstracted landscape at Downpatrick Head or Cearn Dhun Padraig-Ballycastle, County Mayo, Ireland. A beautiful sea stack to behold because you can see the layers upon layers of multi-coloured rock strata. I painted a part of the headland that is a washout from a growling blow hole Poll na Sean Toinne - 'the Hole of the Old Wave'

There is now a fence around the blow hole because it was a popular place for people that chose to die by suicide, and my painting is where the bodies wash out and of the landscape beyond. “Horrible and Stunning all at once”.

And in the same landscape there is a beautiful sea stack to behold, where you can see the layers upon layers of multi-coloured rock strata.

“The shape of a landscape is an ancient and silent form of consciousness. Mountains are huge contemplatives. Rivers and streams offer voice, they are the tears of the earths joy and despair. The earth is full of soul. The philosopher Plotinus (204-270 C.E.) speaks of the souls care for the universe, this all in one universally comprehensive living being .

Left to itself the curvature of the landscape invites presence and the loyalty of stillness.“ excerpt from The Aman Kara by:John O’Donahue

This small painting was made during a workshop called “A Personal Landscape” at the Ballinglen Arts Association in Ballycastle, Ireland, County Mayo in fall of 2023.

Making the artwork and the poetry component of the workshop were highly personal, the Irish landscapes I encountered are seen in the art I made. The paintings capture my interpretation of my experience with deep blanket bogland, sheep farms, and the North Atlantic Ocean.