I am back! Art lovers the length and breadth of the country are clasping their hands in joy, for I am once more to be represented on the walls of that esteemed purveyor of art, Kenny’s of Galway. But it’s not my first rodeo: I am not new to the walls of Kenny’s Art Gallery.
I first exhibited with Kenny’s as a young woman of 25. Watercolours, then oils, and then nothing, and I don’t really know why I stopped. I ran into a snooty assistant in a prestigious Dublin art gallery about ten years ago: artists are notoriously sensitive and egomaniacal – I know I am – and I was greatly offended. I resolved not to bother any more.
Then, as you know, my sketchbook became my gallery, and it remains such to this day. It gives me great pleasure to reach thousands through my little flick-throughs on YouTube. My last flick-through on YouTube has generated the loveliest comments, upon which I intend to dwell if I am finding it hard to sleep.
Some of you know that it was my intention to put instructional videos on my YouTube channel, and the first of these was posted yesterday. Have a look and see what you think: https://youtu.be/XkCM5VJWEvw . You’ll need your watercolour kit if you want to follow along with my sketch.
Call For Submissions…
There is a man who works in Kenny’s Art Gallery called Dean. He sends me an email in early June and asks me if I have anything for the Kenny’s Summer Show. I tell him I do not – I really do work exclusively in a sketchbook. But I think it’s a shame not to stand up and be counted, and so I start looking for opportunities to sketch in Galway City. Being a hothouse flower with severe Raynaud’s syndrome who cannot bear cold or wind, opportunities to sketch outdoors are rare in Galway (and desperately unpleasant for me when I do venture out) but then my luck turns…
Saturday 15th June
I drop my daughter into Galway City, we have lunch before she goes to work, then I conduct a free two-hour tutorial for Urban Sketchers Galway, because I have read somewhere that the USk organisation likes it when Chapter members do voluntary teaching. We gather on the grass opposite the Long Walk at the Claddagh, and it is most enjoyable, despite the arrival of two young men who are very keen to engage with our little group.
“We’re here for the drinking,” says the skinny one. He has a dark brown beard and he is holding a can of beer. “Are you lot drawin’? Drawin’ photos? My friend’s aunt is an artist.” He turns to his friend, also clearly here for the drink. “Your aunt is an artist, isn’t she?”
The young man tells us how the aunt in question sells work to celebrities in LA and lists off a few names. Sia comes up (she co-wrote the song “Titanium” with David Guetta). I am trying to ignore the chat as it’s frankly very inane and a trial to listen to. But it goes on and on. Photos on respective phones of the aunt’s paintings are pulled up. I don’t look, I’m otherwise engaged. Then, while my back is turned, the friend with the artist aunt shows his tattoos, on his bottom. I am very relieved to be staring out to sea and the only thing that gives away the spectacle is the burst of laughter from the people in the group.
Sunday 16th June
I drop my daughter into work, then make my way to Galway Docks and sketch the same boats I did the previous Wednesday. It’s a lovely morning but it’s cold and windy out there at the water’s edge.
If this looks familiar, it’s because it’s the same scene as I showed you in last week’s blog, but from a slightly different angle. It’s a fun scene to do and I wasn’t going to look a sunny day in the mouth, since they are so rare around here. It’s the subject of the “tutorial” that I linked above.
Monday 17th June
I drop my daughter into work, then I park at the Claddagh and decide it might be worth giving the swans a go. When I get to the water’s edge just opposite Claddagh Church, there are many swans preening and grooming. They are adorable! I am delighted to capture their sinewy, graceful bodies with my fude pen, their yellow-tinged neck feathers and the soft shadows on the underside of their plump bodies. Each swan comes with an olive-green, rippling reflection and a gently widening circle of ultramarine ripples, reflecting the blue sky. I add a small traditional boat in the background, because it’s the same boat that will soon be featured on the cover of the second edition of my book Galway In Sketches And Stories (coming out in two weeks’ time). Then I think I might just fit in a few houses at the end of the Long Walk, then I add the horizon and the boats moored against the sea wall behind the swans and before you know it I have a classic Galway scene on the page in front of me. I like when that happens: a beautiful snapshot of a beautiful town sneaks up on you, in your sketchbook, but you have called its bluff and have a blade ready, and a framer on standby.
By lunchtime it’s done, and I have three paintings to drop into the framer. By mid-afternoon two of them are framed and with Dean, who will be hanging the paintings in the Summer Show: the third with the swans was ready this morning and is with Dean now.
The Summer Show in Kennys Art Gallery, in Liosbán, just outside Galway City, starts this weekend…
…where you can acquire a Róisín Curé original, back on the walls of Galway.
(If you’d like to sketch with me in person I have one place left on my urban sketching course this August 15th-17th. More info here: https://roisincure.com/product/colour-and-charm-in-the-west-of-ireland-workshop-15-17th-aug/)
