Yes, I paint from photographs, mostly ones that I have taken myself.
It is not really feasible, for me, to paint at the scene. I choose my subjects based on where I’ve been and how I felt when I was there. For instance – a recent outing in September, the plan was to to take a walk in the woods near Durrow, to generate an appetite for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants – Bowe’s. A lovely stroll about 7k, though it was a bit damp. The return leg took us along the banks of an infant Nore, the sun came out and (wow) I got that feeling again “I must paint this”. I don’t carry my gear around on spec, but the camera on the phone is a great asset. I paint back at my little studio and use both the photo and the memory of the feeling and mood to create the painting.
Gold Creek is an example of this in action (A3 watercolour). I was in a happy mood already. The sun was in the south – directly downriver, and was almost blinding as it burst through the trees, creating a scene that no team of lighting engineers could replicate. The photo doesn’t really capture this. What intrigued me most was how the sun lit up the river bed, creating wells of pure gold in the river. I took a number of different photos of this effect, and tried to capture it in the painting.
I used to believe that the Nore got it’s name from the word Ór (Gold) as in an Ór, or abhainn an Óir. Signage generally used the spelling an Fheoir, though if you google this, no-one seems too clear, as to what this word means. It is, they say derived from this or that. After seening that splendid display of gold light in the river, I have no doubts as to the origin of the river’s name.
