Draíocht Residency

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.