Rossglass Landscapes

The Mountains of Mourne with Yachts off Annalong and Kilkeel, County Down, 22" x 15"

The Mountains of Mourne with yachts off the Annalong and Kilkeel coast in full sail leaving Dundrum Bay and heading out into the Irish Sea. The mountains here, on an April day, have their distinctive purple hue given to them by the vast open expanses of wild Heather ( Ericaceae ), in full bloom at this time of year. A couple of sea gulls are having the “fry fish” for their tea in the foreground of the picture.

The Mountains of Mourne in their January Livery of Snow, 33" x 19"

The Mountains of Mourne wearing a full winter overcoat of snow. A sight to behold in the early morning sunshine from across the cold blue waters of Dundrum Bay, as they cast their icy reflections far and wide on a January morning with an almost still sea, rippling in on the sand and around the rocks on the beach below the Chapel at Rossglass, County Down, which is here appropriately named “Our Lady, Star of the Sea”.

The Mountains of Mourne in their Evening Coat of Light Blue, 33" x 19,5"

The Mountains of Mourne from Rossglass on a March evening. A feast of blue and gold.The “Dark Mournes” as the singer/songwriter Don McLean called them in his rendering of the Percy French song, are a silhouette against a backdrop of gold which graduates upwards into a sky which is a faint mix of cream and powder blue.The waters of the Bay carry the shimmering reflections of Slieve Commedagh, Slieve Donard, and Binnian, across to the beach at Rossglass as just a few ripples on the sea reach the waters edge and four fat seagulls perch high and dry on the “Dolly Rocks”. A flock of Brent Geese take a dip while a grey seal comes up for air and two high flying transatlantic aircraft crisscross the evening sky leaving their vapour trails visible in the setting sun. Who says that nothing happens in and around this idyllic landscape that is South Down.

The Moulin Rouge, Place Blanche, Paris, France, 21,5" x 18"

The Moulin Rouge painted from the entrance to the Metro in Place Blanche, Paris, on a winter’s night. The artist captured this famous music hall back in 1989 while living there in a small student hotel, Hotel des Arts, Rue Lepic, which winds its way up to the artists quarter of the Place de Terte and the magnificent Basilica of the Sacre Coeur on the Butte de Montmatre also a subject for many an artist in Paris.

Malachai and his pony, Banana, at Minerstown, Caravan Park, County Down, 26,5" x 18"

Here a snapshot in time, of everyday life, has been captured by the artist. Malachai and his pony Banana have been stopped in their tracks to have their photograph taken by a passer by. Note the curious cattle in the field behind want to get in on the act and have their photograph taken as well.

Howth Head and the Bailey Lighthouse, with a Yacht Race in Progress

This seascape is painted from Dun Laoghaire looking across Dublin Bay to Howth Head and the Bailey, during one of the many yacht races of the spring and summer racing season. The billowing sails and spinnakers of the yachts highlight the choppy waters of Dublin Bay on this particular summers day when the scene was captured by the artist during a break from other commitments in the bustling city life of Ireland’s Capital City, Dublin. A city which attracts thousands of English language students to come from the four corners of the world to colleges such as the Centre of English Language Studies, Dame Street, Dublin. Ireland.

Saint John’s Point Lighthouse, Killough, County Down, 23,5" x 31"

Saint John’s Point Lighthouse painted here with a couple and little daughter and her dog out for a stroll on a Sunday afternoon. Saint John’s Point and its landmark light house is the most easterly point of the Irish coast line and is a favourite spot for local and tourist alike to stroll to and to gaze up at its towering lantern or to be serenaded on a misty day by its mournful sounding fog horn, echoing out over the rocky coastline into the Irish Sea .The rolling waves are to be seen rushing in on the rocks, and a blaze of yellow Whin blossoms, and a carpet of white Daisies and yellow Buttercups, lie to either side of the “Boreen” that leads up to the great green doors of the Lighthouse Demesne.

The Mountains of Mourne after Sunset on a February evening, 23,5" x 12"

The Mountains of Mourne after the sun has set and just before the night closes in on a February evening. “Here I might as well be, where the Dark Mournes Sweep down to the Sea” as they were referred to in Don McLeans 1970’s version of the Percy French famous song, “THE MOUNTAINS OF MOURNE” act as a foil to the brilliantly coloured sky behind and make the reflections of Slieve Commedagh, Slieve Donard and Binnian all the more evident in the sea as it ripples in around the “Dolly Rock” just in front of the artists window. (The Dolly Rock gets its name from the local pronunciation of Dulce an edible seaweed and together with Yellow Man is famed in the Ballad “Ballycastle O” ).

The Mountains of Mourne in a Sugar Coating of Snow, 24" x 12"

The Mountains of Mourne here captured in what can vividly be described as a sugar dusting of snow and made to stand out against the pink winter sky. A joy to behold on a winters evening from the Rossglass shoreline, and for any one at home, who lives around the Dundrum Bay coastline and who can lookout from the comfort of their firesides onto this majestic setting.

The Mountains of Mourne on a Stormy Day with Red Hot Pokers, 30" x 21"

The Mountains of Mourne, in a South Westerly Gale, with a High Tide in full flow and the Red Hot Pokers (Kniphofia), standing up bravely to the challenge presented by the Gale. Incredibly, they grow ever more vigorously each year on the roadside rockery above the beach. The artist has over the years, planted and cultivated a wide variety of flowering plants and shrubs which attract many a couple from the local County town of Downpatrick or the villages of Killough, Coneyisland, Ardglass and Strangford, all of which receive a mention in the song “Coneyisland” by the Belfast singer songwriter Van Morrison and to take a stroll along the road from the car park at the nearby and well named Chapel, “Our Lady, Star of the Sea”, Rossglass, in the Parish of Bright, County Down.

The Mountains of Mourne with Sea Pinks, 22" x 16"

The Mountains of Mourne with Sea Pinks. This striking landscape, here gives a wonderful contrast of colour with the pale tint of the Mournes forming a backdrop to the simple and delicate light pink and dark scarlet shades of the Sea Pinks bobbing in the sea breezes. Surely this is the essence of the wild beauty and innocence that is nature itself?

The James Joyce Tower and The Forty Foot, Sandycove, County Dublin, 22" x 16"

This is a wonderful view of Sandycove and it’s renowned Martello Tower and Forty Foot Bathing Pool. In the background the Hill of Howth and the Bailley Lighthouse on the other side of Dublin Bay. It is a favourite landscape scene for many artists to paint. The James Joyce Martello Tower, the onetime home of the author and now a museum in his honour was also the setting for the first chapter of Ulysses, which is generally considered to be the greatest novel in the English language. The artist has lived nearby on and off for many years and has painted many scenes of the beautiful landscape around Dublin Bay such as that of Howth, Dalkey Village, and Killiney Hill.

Harry Fitzsimmons and his Faithful Old Friend, Buttermilk, 18" x 14"

Here the artist captured his uncle Harry patting Buttermilk, one of the family cows, well named as she gave many, many years of milk to the family and to many a summer holiday maker to the locality. The scene is from a hill above the Magennis farmhouse overlooking Dundrum Bay and Newcastle, Annalong and Ballymartin at the foot of the Mournes on the other side of the Bay.