The Last Stand (An seastán Deiridh)

I spent many years around Belfast working in environmental education and conservation.  Planting trees was something I used to do often with my dad and something I got great satisfaction from.

I may have mentioned before, but having been accepted to NCAD after school, my parents decided it was a bad idea to fund an arts degree and demanded I study for a science instead.  I suppose I had always been a visual reader and so in part rebellion and part desperation, I found a BSc in Geography, where maps, pattern, diagrams, and landscape felt safer for my young dyslexic head.

Spellcheck and a ping pong ball got me through hours of revision and assignments.  I discovered the wonder of recording my notes onto tape and listening back while doing something else - like weighing nuts into smaller bags at a wholesale warehouse in Portrush, where I worked part-time to get by.  A common mistake, made by some, is to think Dyslexia equates with being slow or stupid, which unfortunately limits their own understanding of others.

After I qualified as a secondary school Geography teacher, I went directly into environmental education and planted thousands of trees on community projects and school grounds.

I enjoy painting trees.  Capturing their movement, beauty and mystery.  But also, to communicate how important they can be to our very existence.  The beautiful act of transpiration that supports all other life.

In this painting called ‘The Last Stand’ the last standing grove of trees await an uncertain fate… my imagination wonders how it would be if trees became extinct because we just cut them all down.

• Original Irish landscape oil painting
• Donegal landscape painting
• Péinteáil Tírdhreach Dhún na nGall
• Original artwork
• Oil on paperboard.
• Painting size 33.5 x 22.5 cm
• Framed size (approx.) 37.5 x 26.5 x 3cm
• White limed wood frame (no glass)
• Price includes frame.