what a lovely day we had for the Waterford country fair at Curraghmore House on Sunday the 9th and thank you to the organisers for all their hard work to make it such a great event! Thank you also to all my customers and all the lovely comments about my paintings. Best selling print was 'Summer Haze' featuring a fox and the favourite greetings cards were definitely the Irish songbirds collection as people really seemed to know and love their garden birds. It was good to meet everybody.
  Clonmel Show Sunday 1st July
  This is my third year at what is my most local event and I will have a bigger display this year including original oil paintings, new limited edition prints and some lovely new card designs and some extra special show prices!. I will bring along my watercolours and demonstrate some wildlife painting during the day. There's always lots to see at Clonmel, but it's not spread over a vast site like some larger shows making it easy to enjoy without being exhausting on the legs! Hope to see you there
Sarah 
  

,   I shall have a stall at the Waterford country fair which is to be held at Curraghmore house, Portlaw this coming Sunday the 10th of June, 10am until 6pm. Here's a link for info- curraghmorehouse.ie
  Curraghmore house & garden is a beautiful place to visit and the show sounds really very good and I understand that proceeds from the fair go to the charity  Make a wish foundation.
  There is lots to do and see and my stall I think will be in the courtyard. I will have all my limited edition prints and lots of greetings cards including four new designs. As usual I will have some special show offers, so hope to see you there!
  these are the images on the new greetings cards-
 

  Now summer is on it's way many of us are enjoying seeing flowers in the garden so I thought is would be nice to show you a recent floral painting of mine featuring Hellebores which has been selected for exhibition at-
 the 6th Annual Botanical & Floral Art in Bloom Exhibition
 This is an annual exhibition of paintings by Ireland's foremost botanical artists, taking place as part of the Bloom in the Park garden festival, Phoenix Park, Dublin. The official opening by Eanna Ni Lamhna (environmental consultant & author) will be on Thursday 31st May at 6pm. The exhibition is then open daily until the 4th June 2018 at the visitors Centre, Phoenix Park Dublin.

                                                                  'Hellebores with Ferns' oil on canvas 12"x16"

 In relation to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into force on 25th May 2018 I have added what I have called a Privacy/honesty Policy to the bottom of my home page. This isn't a legal document but purely a statement in plain English from me saying that I will only use any information that is given to me for the intended purpose requested by you. This website was made on and powered by weebly. Please contact me if you have any questions.

 The Association embracing realist art (AERA)
​  I am delighted to have been invited to join the AERA who's goals are -
   Create realist visual art
   Help raise the standards in art today
​   Hold presentations and teaching programmes to spread the word and show off realist art skills
    Organise solo exhibitions or jointly with other members
​   Promote the movement via social media and the press
​   

  One of my most recent paintings entitled  ' Mountain Pass' , it is the gap of Dunloe, Kerry, in winter

  Spring is here but it's a very wet one in Ireland! The birds are busy building nests and blossom is coming out on the cherry tree in my garden but the ground is too wet for much gardening. I have been busy though and I have entered some of my paintings into open art competitions/exhibitions. The first one has gone well as my painting 'the Weir on the river Suir' has made it through to the longlist at the Jackson's open art in the UK. There is an opportunity for the public to vote if anyone is interested this is the link     jacksonspaintingprize.com
This is my entry-
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                                                   'The Weir on the river Suir'    oil on linen   20"x30"

 Asgard Arts
​ I am very pleased to have been invited to be represented by a  UK gallery and you can view a collection of my paintings on their online gallery -
asgard-arts.com​   
​  They also have a gallery on amazon and ebay

 I have just finished designing a new page for my limited edition prints. I have 18 prints available now, all of which can be purchased by mail order (please telephone me first on : 087 210 6569 ) and some of the prints can also be purchased on my online shopping page. All the prices include P&P and owing to a recent better packing solution some of the print prices are lower than before.
Throughout the year I will again be taken a stall at selected events in Ireland where prints can be purchased directly from me, often at special show prices. I also always have a lovely selection of my high quality artist's greetings cards on the stall. Keep an eye on this 'News' page for upcoming events. Thank you to all the people who I met at last years shows and I hope you like the new prints.
​    Sarah 
​

  Thank you every one who came to my solo exhibition at Kilcock art Gallery and helped to make the show a success. The show is continuing for a few more weeks, Wednesday - Saturday.
The lovely mild Autumn we have had in Ireland is gently going and it's getting colder and much more festive as we get closer to Christmas time. I will be having a stall at the Ballymaloe craft & design festival again this year, this time I will have a double stall in the Craigauan room (attached to the Grainstore) and I will have a large range of new limited edition prints with special show savings.
​ For the first time I will also have a range of Christmas cards as well as my landscape & wildlife greetings cards. As an extra to the cards I can frame any of the greetings while you wait for 12.95 for the small bird cards or 14.95 for the large A5 cards, this price includes the card, mount and a gold frame (with a choice of bright gold or antique finish), these make a lovely gift for Christmas.

 Tomorrow is the opening preview of my solo exhibition at Kilcock art gallery, if anyone would like to come along you would be most welcome. The exhibition has landscapes, wildlife and horses in oils and watercolour. the details are-
​  3pm-5:30pm
​  Kilcock art gallery
 School street,
  Kilcock, Co. Kildare
​  The exhibition runs until the end of October

 Sometimes I am lucky to find a place that has an abundance of artistic inspiration for me and it's like finding a rich seam of gold. One such place is the stretch of the river Suir as it winds it's way into the village of Golden (near Cashel) and on to the ruins of Athassel Abbey. Several of the paintings in my forthcoming exhibition at Kilcock art gallery are from this beautiful area of the Country. In the early spring I painted the 'Willows by the Suir' on the approach to Golden. The river looked like burnished silver in the morning light as it  broke through  the clouds. I tried to capture the fresh delicate green of the grass and the golden flush of new leaves on the willows.

 In High summer I painted the weir further down stream from golden village. The river is broad here and reflective as it slows before the weir. Wildlife abounds along the river banks, I saw kingfishers, dragon & damsel flies and much more. 

 In early autumn when the trees were just getting some colour I painted by Athassel abbey. I painted the river from the shallows of a ford (wading out in bare feet to sketch and take photo's). The river banks and bed is quite sandy here and of a lovely warm reddish colour and lends an autumnal warmth to the whole scene.

 I also painted a small painting of the path by the abbey, despite it's ruined state the abbey has a wonderful feeling of history and made me think of all the other feet that might have trod that same path.

 The date of my exhibition called 'Scattered with light' is getting closer. I got the title from a poem by Robert Bridges. I think he also loved nature and the line 'Awake!, the land is scattered with light' conjures up a simple yet beautiful sense of wonder about the natural world.
​  In the exhibition as you can see if you watch the slide show on this site or go to the gallery's new website www.kilcockartgallery.ie, I have oil paintings of wildlife, landscape and horses from the countryside around my home in county Tipperary and other places in Ireland that I have visited over the last three years such as County Wicklow, Kerry,Laois and Cork.
​   The internet is a great way to showcase your paintings and too keep in touch with people who like your work, but nothing can replace actually seeing the paintings hung in a good, friendly gallery like Kilcock. I hope anyone who is interested will try and get to see them if not at the preview reception on September the 30th 3-5:30, then sometime after as the exhibition runs until the end of October. But why not come along on the preview and enjoy a glass of wine and good company while you look at the paintings! There's no pressure to buy so every one is welcome. If anyone would like an invitation card sent just contact me via the contact page or the gallery (you don't need an invitation to come but they are nice to have).
​   As well as my oil paintings there will be some of my watercolour studies of birds and oil sketches of horses.
​ A big thank you to everyone who has helped me in putting this exhibition together from those who let me walk on there land or photograph/sketch their animals to Breda at the Gallery for all her support and guidance.
  Sarah
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