Frost on the east wind (Sioc ar an ngaoth thoir)

In the Irish language, there are many words for the wind… just like the rain, it very much depends on direction, weight (or quantity) and time of year!

This painting remembers the icy cold of an east wind. Made using monoprint technique to build layers, painted and carved into.

In Ireland, the wind was thought to have a different colour for each compass direction (north, south, east, west) and each mid-way point in between. The northern wind being absent of colour or black, other shades included greys, brown, yellow, purple from the east, red, white or silver from the south and green/blue from the west.

Celtic lore describes many types of wind and many superstitions or predictions related to Gaoth Sidhe, which means “the fairy wind”.

‘Trí bríos gála, trí gála feothan, trí feothan stoirm, trí stoirm airic’ … Trí (three) being a magical number… Three breezes make a gale, three gales make a winnowing wind, three winnowing winds make a storm, three storms make a hurricane.

These winds were sometimes described in graphic or fisherman’s terms. For example, a harsh east wind was regarded as one that would ‘skin a dog-fish’ – ‘Gaoth a bhainfeadh an craiceann difhíogach’, and ‘When the winds from the East, the fish bite least’.

• Original Irish landscape oil painting
• Donegal landscape painting
• Péinteáil Tírdhreach Dhún na nGall
• Original artwork
• Oil on paper board.
• Painting size 22 x 16 cm
• Framed size (approx.) 37.5 x 31 x 3 cm
• Off white wooden frame, grey mount (with glass)
• Price includes frame