You just couldn’t make the stuff up. In September we had to vacate our studios. It was full on packing up over 100 paintings, sculptures and furniture not to mention paints, brushes and all the paraphernalia that we accumulate as artists. The largest painting being 2 metres x 3 metres. But we did it.
To top it all off I just managed to pack up the old studio and renovate a space at home and organise storage. I just managed to exhale but was not feeling the best, long story short, I was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia and our world was sent into a major spin.
In to hospital within a week for 5 weeks pre-Christmas for immediate chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatment. After lots (and lots) of tears, fears and gratitude I am now back, in my favourite space, my studio, which sits beautifully in my second favourite space, my garden. I get to fling open my doors, listen to the birds and deadhead my flowers all on the daily commute. Really what could be nicer right?
So sum the last 8 months up, we really don’t know what is around the corner, so take a breath and taste the moment. Right now is what it’s all about.
What an absolute honour to be contacted by Art Journal in the US, published by Taylor & Frances, to feature as the chosen artist’s project for the Winter 2023 edition Volume 82, 2023 – Issue 4 – Published Feb 2024.
The project, though several months in the making, was a pleasure to work with the Taylor & Francis team.
Fast forward nearly a year since my last post, and life has been nothing short of hectic. For any artist, moving a studio is one of the biggest disruptions you can face. It’s not just the physical act of relocating materials; it’s the mental shift, the adjustment to a new space that starts long before you even pack the first box.
A little backstory.
In 2018, I was fortunate enough to be offered a studio residency with the Wexford Arts Office in Wexford town. Initially, it wasn’t a long-term commitment—just a year-to-year arrangement, which isn’t the most secure setup. But what began as a short stint stretched into six years. The space gave me something invaluable: room to grow, quite literally. My home studio had limited me to 100×100 cm canvases, but in Wexford, I aimed higher and larger. Six years later, I’ve worked on some truly massive pieces—my largest spanning 2×3 meters. Painting at that scale was deeply satisfying, though finding frames (huge thanks to the incredible team at Artel ) and moving these works to galleries came with their own set of challenges. Yet somehow, I always made it work.
Fast forward again to the present: just three weeks after the big studio move, all my work, furniture, and materials have found their way back home. At first, it felt like stepping into a scene from Hoarders—you could barely see the floor. But with a lot of MDF and a few clever storage solutions, we managed to create space for all 109 paintings. Yes, 109. Roughly 50 of them were created in that studio over the six years.
Now, I’m back in my home studios—two of them, to be precise. It won’t be long before I’m painting and creating again, but settling into this new/old space will take some time. The challenge of having my workspace on the same grounds as my home is real. The washing machine calls, the dishwasher beeps incessantly—distractions are everywhere. I know I’m not alone in this; many artists with home studios face the same struggle. It’s going to take a little more discipline to stay focused and make sure the creative flow isn’t interrupted by everyday life.
Upcoming shows that you can see my work in.
You can see some of my work in the Dublin Arts Society annual exhibition, opening Fri 18th October only for the weekend.
I was delighted to be selected for the Beep Prize exhibition in Elyssium Gallery for the Beep Painting Biennial in Swansea in November.
There will be an exhibition for Dublin Simon Community and I will be donating a piece for this worthy cause, see Instagram for more info on this, it’s in November.
Available work
Looking to add to your collection or just starting out as an art collector? Feel free to get in touch! We can arrange a personal visit for an in-studio viewing of my work, or if you prefer, we can set up a virtual studio tour via video call—it’s a great way to experience the artwork from wherever you are. Let’s find the perfect piece for your collection!
That’s all for now folks.
It won’t be as long next time.
The little dog laughed, the fish came home too, oil on canvas,100x100cm
