1939-2011
"After a successful business career and raising my family, I returned to art full time in the 1990’s – teaching painting, giving art demonstrations, and selling original work. But, from about 1992 to 1997, while I painted many paintings and many portraits, I felt somehow not as connected to my work as I wished. In 1997, I went to visit my cousins in Ireland. I had been to Ireland many t
imes in the past, but this trip changed me utterly. Memories of my youth, my folks, relatives, the singing and the stories washed over me. I wanted others to share my memories of Ireland, and the wonderful Irish culture, that I fear will be lost. So I hold onto it in my paintings. All of my paintings of Ireland, be it a cityscape, landscape, or seascape have people in them. It’s those people that I want to capture and remember. I want people who see my paintings to feel that there is a story that they are witnessing. I love stories and if I were a gifted writer, I would tell stories. I am not a gifted writer, so I tell the story, the best way that I can. I could tell people about why I painted particular paintings, but I somehow feel that I want the person who is looking at a work of mine, to see his or her version of the story. Who knows, maybe their story is a better one than mine?"
