Upcoming Ireland Collection Preview

Hello!

I hope you’ve been safe and healthy during this pandemic. I’m fortunate enough to be able to work from home and have a little piece of green space to myself which has allowed me to spend more time tending the garden and creating art. That brings me to the topic of this post: my upcoming Ireland Collection! I’m ready to turn my art up a notch and really push myself towards a new, big goal and that means creating my very first ever art collection. I’ve spent hours dreaming and planning about my first collection. I’ve never done a series of work before – one where each painting tells a small part of an overall story – and now is a perfect time to tackle the challenge. Coming up with the theme for the collection wasn’t hard for me. I knew it was going to be a series of landscapes documenting my favorite place I’ve ever travelled to… Ireland.

I’ve loved Ireland my whole life, even before I ever visited in person. I think it runs in the blood. My family has Irish and Scottish roots on both sides and I’ve always felt connected to its rich verdancy, rolling hills, dramatic cliff sides, music, and the many quaint country homes and pubs. When my husband and I finally decided to plan our first trip there I knew we had to see as much of it as possible and the best way to do that is with a road trip!

Guys… I’m telling you, it was the trip of a lifetime. Ireland completely blew me away and exceeded every expectation I had of it.  In a way, it felt like I was coming home. I was able to get so many of my own original reference photos from that trip that I feel like I can’t do Ireland justice with just one collection. Therefore, I’m breaking the trip down into smaller collections and will work through them one by one. I’m starting with the place that inspired me most: the Gap of Dunloe in Killarney. Check this place out…

Isn’t this place just amazing?? I felt like I was walking through a Lord of the Rings movie (which felt like a dream come true). Once we’ve made it through the Gap of Dunloe, and the collection is launched, I’ll see which Irish locale I feel like painting most next. Maybe one of her vibrant cities? We’ll just have to see!

As if the scope of the project wasn’t big enough already, I’m adding one more challenge to it. I want to recreate the immense, immersive experience that I had while I was there and I want you to be able to share that experience as much as possible when you look at each painting. The way I plan to do this is by painting each layer of the landscape separately. Then I’ll cut them out and layer them on top of each other to create a three dimensional feel. My goal is that the painting will make you feel invited to walk right into it and explore the scene by foot. I am very excited to explore this idea and I’d love for you to follow along with the process so that maybe you can feel transported during this time when we’re mostly stuck at home.

I’ll leave you with a smattering of my favorite Ireland photos that you will definitely see painted soon!

Have you been to Ireland? If so, let me know what your favorite part was to visit in the comments below!