A couple of years ago Ken Sweeney, Entertainment Editor for the Irish Independent newspaper, ran an article about my Dublin pub paintings after he had spotted them in the window of the Keeling Art Gallery on Clarendon Street, Dublin where I was having a one-man show.
The exhibition was called 'Dublin Life' and pretty much featured acrylic paintings and some prints of most of the iconic pubs in the city centre, pubs like the Long Hall and the Stags Head, the kind of old style bars that have kept their Victorian roots intact and virtually untouched over the years. The kind that are really cool nowadays. Got a couple of commissions from some pub owners from it and an American bar owner bought some of the paintings for his Irish themed pub in Texas.
Of course the nature of the article being pubs I had to get one of those 'hero' shots with a pint of Guinness outside Grogans Pub in Castlemarket for the article. Needless to say it took a few takes to get it right and you have to keep the Guinness fresh or the head of the pint will start to look old, so brave soldier that I am I just had to keep topping up. Kind of shows in the photograph :-) The perks of being an artist.
Tom Dunne, the radio presenter from Newstalk FM , saw the feature and gave me a call to come in and do a radio interview about my paintings, which I did.
I thought to myself .... surely the Late Late Show on TV will come calling next !
Sadly it was all over in 15 minutes :-(
You can read the full story here :
