October 2018

It has been an interesting first season at The Old Forge Art Studio at The North Mayo Heritage Centre, Ballina, Co. Mayo. The last blacksmith to work there retired five years ago and the space has been used for storage since then. Once everything was moved out and we cleared up the dust and soot, I was able to move in in July.

Many thanks to the staff at the centre and The Secret Garden cafe, who have been very welcoming.

I’ve been working on a portrait of Cillian Rogers, a sculptor and giant puppet-maker extraordinaire, who is based at The Workhouse Arts Studios in Dromore West, Co.Sligo.

The painting shows Cillian as a Jester. One of his many guises! The work is in oil on canvas and is not far from completion now.

I’ve also been producing some work for our home. In conjunction with planting a group of Silver Birch trees in the garden, I have painted a Silver Birch wood for our living room. In twenty years our young trees may look something like this!