O’Connell’s Pub, Portobello, Dublin – 9

Ornate woodwork, traditional lettering and deep red paint make J. O’Connell’s on South Richmond Street exactly the kind of Dublin pub front I love to paint. In this acrylic painting, people gather outside while warm light fills the windows.

I like to include the first-floor windows as well as the bar below, giving a sense of the whole building and the life above the street. Here, those upper windows carry the glow upwards, balancing the detailed frontage and adding to its old-fashioned character.

Find more familiar pub fronts in my Dublin pub prints collection.