Stephen exhibits his art at various times of the year in our Gallery in Shanagarry, Co. Cork, Ireland. His influences are the changing seasons in Italy and France, where he spends much of his time. Please contact our Gallery for a full guide of events taking place at the Gallery for 2008, or view our Calendar of Events.

INSPIRATION BY THE ARTIST

All my life I have avoided colour, except for my socks. I love the peace and calm of white. When designing objects and spaces I think of permanence and white as a background colour for plates which will carry different coloured foods or for walls which will act as a background for paintings or tapestries, white seems perfect.

I painted a little with watercolours about ten years ago. I found it hard to choose the colours and I yearned for the brilliance of oils, so I tried one. It was terrible. Last Autumn I started to psyche myself up for some painting in Italy. I became entranced firstly by the sun and the idea of illusion of a horizon, then I started to look at the moon, then sunrise and sunset. Finally, in the Caribbean I started to look at the moon at sunrise and the moon at sunset. I started to paint furiously.

Later as I looked out on the Tuscan hills, I began to realise that colour is largely an opinion. This freed me from the fear of being wrong, so I started to allow the colours to choose themselves. I decided to have another go at oils and went back into a cold funk for two weeks. Finally I allowed some colours to choose my canvas and I loved the result. So I did one every day for three weeks, revelling in the joy of watching the colours choose my canvas.

The best I can do as an explanation is that coming from my sun/moon experiences and given that there is little intellectual processes as possible, I just take a piece of charcoal and freely create two or three lines.
I allow a golden sphere to choose its space and allow colour to create the illusion of reality, while the lines, which are reality, may become obscured.

Of course Lauren taught me how to paint. It's been great fun producing this collection, which Lauren insists on keeping. I truly hope that the colours will be there waiting for me when I start painting again in the Autumn.

When I studied pottery in Japan, my master never worked in the heat of the summer or the bitter cold of winter. He said: “How can you access inspiration when you are too hot or too cold?” Bless him.