Lakes, like twins, once sacred

I must have travelled this road a thousand times, quite literally.  The mountain road from Carndonagh to Buncranna holds beautiful umbers and siennas all year round and of course, whin, which never fails to bloom. This side of the King and the Queen (left mountain crowns) lie the two lakes Lough Fad (on the right) and Lough Naminn (on the left).

In Celtic lore lakes were sanctuaries. They were sacred spaces separated from the ordinary world.  The spirits of watery places such as lakes, rivers, springs, and bogs were seen as givers of life and as links between the physical realm and the other world.

I remember watching my father dive into the water at Lough Naminn after a favourite fishing rod which snapped after hooking a rather large something or other.  He emerged from the water like Manannán MacLir, fishing rod in hand and still wearing his wellingtons.

There is a lesser-known burial site, on the right side of the crown on the hill, to the right of the road here above Lough Fad. In a stark light these fresh water lakes reflect the sky and can appear white.

• Original Irish Landscape Seascape oil painting
• Donegal landscape painting
• Péinteáil Tírdhreach Dhún na nGall
• Original artwork
• Oil on paperboard
• Painting size  19 x 19 cm
• Framed size (approx.) 31 x 31 x 3.5 cm
• Off white limed wooden frame, soft white mount with glass.
• Price includes frame.