Last week I went along to the opening of the latest exhibition of paintings at Solas Art Gallery in Ballinamore. I love that little gallery. It’s above Ben and Gail Quinn’s Four Seasons florist/garden centre in the main street. How wonderful to be able to see works from a variety of artists, both local and not, only seven miles from home.
The exhibition was shared by two artists, both living in Leitrim and many of the paintings depicted easily recognizable scenes from around the county.
Although many of Gareth Boyle’s paintings are of a photographic nature, some other quality to the image emerges that a camera somehow just can’t pick up. Maybe it has something to do with the hours of watching and observing that goes into a painting such as the one below, – “Lough Allen from Arigna”.
I found the above painting of particular interest. Notice the traditional landscapes that rural Ireland is famous for on the lower, more fertile soils on either side of the lake. A patchwork of hedgerows dividing small fields. And above those fields, the stark contrast of the big, dark green blocks of forestry on the higher, poorer ground. And see what looks like a fairly recently replanted clearfell block to the right, with a forestry road visible through the small trees. Gareth is a local artist painting a landscape that in itself is reflecting back a time in history and recording the way things are done during this time.
As I looked at this painting I had a little daydream about people a hundred years from now looking at this painting and asking ‘what are those dark green blocks where our lovely swathes of mixed forests are now?’ Time. I suppose it will take more than ‘best practice guidelines’ for forestry to become more integrated both into Leitrim landscapes and into the lives of the people who live here.
Another painting at the exhibition caught my eye,- by the second artist, Louis McLoughlin. This painting also reminded me of forestry, although when I spoke to Louis about where it was, he said just along a ditch on a country road in south Leitrim. The painting is of the wild Fireweed plant, otherwise known as the rosebay willow herb. You can read the post I wrote sometime back about how this plant colonizes the disturbed ground after forest clearfell.
"Fireweed at Kinkeen" by Louis McLoughlin
Louis work is more abstract, but it shows that burst of colour that fireweed throws out into the landscape every summer. To see more of Louis’ work, look on Solas website.
Here’s the painting I was most drawn to from the exhibition. Nothing to do with trees, but couldn’t you just step out onto that stoney strand?
"Lissadell Beach" by Gareth Boyle.
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Tags: plantation forestry
