Small windows to a soulful place (fine art print)

Small Windows to a Soulful Place came from the feeling that certain landscapes hold more than their visible surface.

Soft greys and blues give the painting distance and quiet, while bold orange marks cut across the green land. I think of those flashes as moments of recognition - interruptions in the view that open another emotional register.

The title was influenced by John O'Donohue's writing about landscape as a companionable presence, a place where inner and outer life can meet.

The painting relates to Pollan Bay near Ballyliffin. On a full-moon tide, surfers sometimes enter powerful coastal water for the brief experience of being entirely absorbed in it.

That is close to what I wanted here: not a literal description of the bay, but the sense that a place can look back at us as strongly as we look at it.