Warm and Wooly

Spending Sunday afternoon recovering from a long night celebrating the opening of  Hedgehog Fibres' new studio! Adam and I rolled in around 4 am! Hedgehog Fibres, run by my friend Beata, specializes in hand-dyed yarns and fibers for spinning.

Beata was finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the huge demand for her georgous hand-dyed yarns while working out of her home. So in order to supply that demand she moved her business from her kitchen to a wonderful new studio space, and last night was the grand opening party! Celebrating my friend's success was exciting enough for me, but maybe even more so was being asked to assist with the event planning! I cannot wait to share pictures of the party with you, hopefully sometime this week. 

Today however I thought I would share a picture of my studio warming gift to Beata. 

I knew I wanted to paint something that had some connection to what goes on at the studio and this sheep just seemed to make sense! She may have to commission me to paint her a matching goat because in addition to sheep's wool she also dyes lovely soft mohair!

Oil Painting is My Jam!

I mentioned in a blog post last week that I have finally gotten back into a painting groove. When we first arrived here in Ireland I decided to give acrylics a try. I painted two large canvases and while they turned out well I was less than impressed with the medium. I found it frustrating because it dried so quickly and didn't seem to allow for a lot of blending and fluidity. You can adjust the drying time by adding a slow drying medium to the paint, but I found it made for a rather sticky mess. So I switched back to oil and realized that oil is totally my jam! 

Yes, I did just say "my jam" when I know full well I am probably not cool enough to use that phrase. What I mean to convey by saying oil painting is "my jam" is that it is my preferred medium to work in. As soon as I switched back to oil paints I got a little painting high! Maybe the high was just from inhaling the turpentine fumes, but whatever it was it jumped started my desire to paint.

So today I wanted to share with you some of the things I have been working on. Mostly Irish city-scapes and landscapes for now. Not sure what I am going to do with them, maybe set up a shop on Etsy? What do you think?

The Four Faced Liar
Oil on canvas
16 x 12

Down Patrick's Hill
Acrylic on canvas
36 x 28

Up Patrick's Hill
Acrylic on Canvas
36 x 28

In Progress

St. Finbarrs
Oil on canvas
14 x 10

In Progress

Sheep on the Slea Head
Oil on canvas
10 x 14

In Progress
oil on canvas
10 x 14