I was Artist in Residence in Draíocht, Blanchardstown from July 2013 to December. During that time, I worked outside, finding Nature in the Car Parks around the Town Centre. For the first few weeks I was watching insects and birds, and the number of bees enjoying the flowers among the hedges. I drew the insects and made imaginary ones from florists’ wire.
The trees began to assert themselves as Autumn came along – one of the most beautiful in many years. The weather was mild and bright, but the colours were dramatic! I found myself focusing on the leaves. I drew them and painted them and some of these images were hung in the window of my studio there.
I walked around photographing leaves, them giving some of them numbers in Leaf Survey. I then drew leaves in chalk in the car parks and photographed them. That work is called Leaf Graffiti. The rain washed them away after a number of days. I have recorded all this work and drawn the routes I took onto a map.
I also made some studio work – a three-panelled piece showing leaves going from green to brown and falling: I have made leaf-kites which were flown by students who came to visit from Dunboyne. I also completed a piece called Word Tree which was exhibited in Satellite Project Space last October. The sketches for this work can be seen here on my website also.