Not Such A Cheery Christmas Illustration

Here's another Christmassy job I did just before the holidays.
It was for the ISPCC and it was to appear with a text that had a fairly sinister subtext about violence against children.
My painting was to seem wholesome and festive but with a subtle aspect of menace.

A Little Christmas Window Movie

Here is a little movie of me at work in the window of Hodges Figgis.
I have transferred this from FaceBook so I hope it will work here.
Happy Christmas everybody.

Happy Christmas!

Here's a seasonal painting I did of Ireland's new President last week for the lovely folks at Public Communications Centre and which I think makes for a hopeful Christmas card for those of us living in Ireland.

Thank you all for visiting my blog in 2011
and may I wish all of you a very Happy Christmas and the best of luck in 2012
PJxxx

The Ghost of Christmas Present

I have finally made up a pretty good digital approximation of my big painting of the Ghost of Christmas Present.
The problem was that I could only get my camera three and a half feet away from the canvas and so I had to make this image up from lots of smaller photos pasted together in Photoshop.

The painting in the window was a very strange project to take on, but I really enjoyed the process and I loved meeting all those nice people who stopped by to say hello.
Painting this scene from A Christmas Carol in public was a very good way of getting into the Christmas spirit, and in a purely practical sense, it is good to know that, when pressed, I can finish a seven foot oil painting in less than a week.

Oscar Wilde: Stories for Children

It's nice to see "Oscar Wilde; Stories for Children" doing so well in the Irish Bestsellers.
Not bad for a book I illustrated twenty years ago.

Two Quick Studies from Life

With one thing and another I have missed a lot of life drawing on Thursdays in the last month or so.
These two paintings are from the time I got to go in about two weeks ago.
I split my afternoon session between models, with an hour spent painting Meri and an hour and a half on Sean.

A Portrait of Richard

It's a month since my friend Richard Hannaford died.
He was only forty nine.

I was honoured when Richard asked me to do a portrait of him during his final illness.
He wasn't looking too well and he asked me to work from photographs that his wife Norah had taken earlier.
Luckily they were terrific photos, and I was delighted that Richard and his family were really happy with the painting.
On Sunday we scattered his ashes in Phoenix Park near this beautiful old oak.
It was a very moving experience for all of us who were there.
Norah's brother Leo paid a very touching tribute to Richard.
You can read it here on Leo's blog.

Preparing A Large Canvas

Here is a short film of me putting together the canvas for the Hodges Figgis job.
I hadn't made a canvas that big before and it very nearly didn't fit down the stairs from the studio.
I'll post some video of the painting process later.