Creating “Homeward” from My Irish Adventure

During my one-month stay in Ireland in 2022, I worked for two weeks as a barmaid in a small town called Newport.  It was definitely an interesting cultural experience, and I enjoyed myself enormously.  During my time off, I had plenty of opportunities to explore the area.  I love to hike, so one afternoon, I packed myself a ham sandwich and my plein air watercolor supplies, and I set off to explore the pastures of Ireland.  I wasn’t out the door for five minutes before it started to rain—I don’t mean a light sprinkle that might start to annoy you if your glasses are getting a little soppy; I mean a full-on deluge!  (There’s a reason why Ireland is so green.) I took refuge with several other pedestrians under an awning and ate my sandwich while I waited out the worst of it.  It was still sprinkling when I set off again, so I stopped in a convenience store and bought myself a brand-new plaid “brolly” for six euros.  This is the true Irish experience, I told myself, and I was very pleased.

I hiked for several miles before I found a beautiful place to sit down and work on a watercolor sketch, but I was not there ten minutes before the sprinkle decided it was not ambitious enough, and the deluge began again.  My painting washed away instantly, yet I was not discouraged!  I had an opportunity to use my brand-new brolly, and I was not going to let that chance go to waste!  I opened the umbrella, taking a moment to admire the sleek green plaid material, and just as I began to think perhaps a Nevada-raised girl can fit right in in Ireland, the wind laughed aggressively and dashed my beautiful new brolly to pieces. 

I believe there is a philosophical lesson here, but I’m not sure what it is.

Of course, the rain stopped the instant I got back to town, just as the sun was going down. The irony struck me at the time, and I think I laughed aloud, but then something else struck me: the sight of the setting sun at the end of a narrow road. The last light caught the streams of water on the pavement, and the painted yellow lines glowed pink. That street looked dirty when I passed it earlier in the day, but now it was almost ethereal!

I stood on the street corner, wet and cold, and I had just taken out my camera to take a picture when a lovely lady in a red coat, Mary Janes, and a scarf around her hair passed me and apologized for getting in my shot. I assured her that she made it ten-thousand times better! She encapsulated what the painting became for me: an image of a homeward journey, both for me and for her. No matter how lousy the day was before, that’s what it should feel like to be bound for home.

This oil painting is one that I worked on over the course of a year. I started with a burnt sienna underpainting, then I blocked in the shapes and colors. Every time I added another layer, I increased the level of detail involved. Some of the layers, especially in the water area, were painted very thinly in walnut oil to best capture that glowing, transparent look of water and light together. My final layer involved moving from left to right on the painting with an extra-fine paintbrush, sharpening any edges that were intended to be sharp and adding last minute highlights and textures.

Cards and prints are available for sale in the shop on my website. Enjoy!