Images in the studio that inspire

Studio floatsom and jetsam -images that inspire me - Picasso's pigeons in his studio, Frank Bramley's lovely old gem 'The domino players', Rothko's blues, Valezquez's maid, Gorky's haunting portrait with his Mother, Tony O'Malley's 1950's abstract - my watercolour of the old shed - now my studio - a Tapies like photo of a wall -
 (my Small oil painting is a 'Harbour at night' from 2005)

Antoni Tapies Art Poster from 1992

Antoni Tapies poster from a 1992 exhib of his 'Monumental' prints.
organised by Sligo Art Gallery (now closed) Ireland


The great Catalan artist died this month aged 88.
The prints were giant, brooding, dark, truly monumental, 6 ft long - touring Ireland
                                 from the Tapies Foundation in Barcelona. I helped hang the show, and carried the prints with several others up and down the town hall stairs, in dread of a breakage! 

Blues & reds, Studio colour chart

Colour tester chart in the studio -
Blues & reds - Oil paint

Blank Canvases in the Studio, Feb '12

Archive - Duskland, Andalucia 1999

Duskland, Andalucia 1998/99
Oil on board,
25 x 32 ins

In 1998 I travelled around Spain, taking trains and buses across Andalucia in a blazing summer.
On the way to Cordoba we crossed a desert like landscape by train, a storm blew up out of the high 
skies and darkened towards the horizon. I was reading Lorca poetry and a terrifying history of the Spanish civil war which haunted my dreams. 

Archive - City Interior (Night) 2004

City Interior (Night) 2004
Acrylic on paper,
23 x 16.5 ins

Archive - Aine 2003

Aine, Summer 2003,
Oil / Acrylic on board,
30 x 24 ins