Painting the Nation, Episode 2 of 5, RTÉ One, October 9th at 7.30pm
It’s week two of the great Irish amateur painting challenge and the six remaining painters travel to the beautiful coastal town of Carlingford, County Louth.
Inspired by Percy French’s watercolours and his famous musical ode to the Mountains of Mourne, our amateur painters must this week face the watercolor challenge – traditionally one of the most difficult mediums to master.
As always, there’s a warm-up challenge where our judges get to see which of our 6 remaining amateur painters have the hang of this famously difficult painting technique – and who has a Mourne mountain to climb.
And to spice things up, they set a particularly tricky warm-up challenge: still life of Carlingford fish, chips and mushy peas, with ketchup and vinegar! So who will perfectly capture the ketchup – and whose fish supper will flop?
Warm-up challenge completed, our painters move on to this week’s Exhibition Challenge. This is the challenge on which they’ll be judged – and which decides which painters go onto the next heat, and which painter will leave the competition.
For this week’s Exhibition Challenge, our six amateur painters must choose which view of stunning Carlingford Lough to paint – and capture it perfectly in watercolour.
Seascapes and costal scenes have been the subject of many a great painting. The Irish musician Percy French, who penned the lyrics to the much-loved song Where the Mountains of Mourne Sweep Down to the Sea, was also an accomplished watercolour painter. He spent time travelling the highways and byways of Ireland, painting mountains, lakes and seascapes, just like the one our amateurs will be painting this week.
Taking their cue from Percy French, our amateur painters have just two hours to capture the beauty of Carlingford Lough, the sweeping Cooley Mountains and the majestic Mournes.
As always, just one amateur artist will win the title of ‘Painter of the Week’ – and one of the six will leave the competition.
Who will impress the judges, and who will struggle? Which five will make it through to the next heat of Painting the Nation?
SERIES OVERVIEW
Painting the Nation is a brand-new series for RTÉ One which tests the talents of some of the very best amateur painters in the country. Following a national call-out in Spring 2016, seven amateur artists were selected from hundreds of hopefuls from across Ireland to vie for the honour of having a painting chosen by our judges for the national art collection.
Their challenge throughout the series is to impress two professional judges – professional artists Una Sealy and Gabhann Dunne – as they capture some of Ireland’s most iconic people, places and traditions on canvas. Only one artist’s work will be chosen by our judges at the end of the series to hang alongside the work of some of Ireland’s greatest painters in the OPW’s state art collection in Dublin Castle.
To have a painting chosen to be a permanent part of a state collection is the dream of any artist, anywhere in the world. For these amateur artists, it is the chance of a lifetime.
So who are our seven finalists? They come from Cork, Laois, Meath, Dublin and Wexford and they are carpenters, geologists, full-time mums, students and grannies from across Ireland who share a dream of painting for a living. Some are self-taught, others studied art but went a different path; some started painting late in life, some are only starting out.
Over the next five weeks, inspired by the work of Irish painters like Percy French, Sir John Lavery and Paul Henry, our artists will travel around Ireland to paint great Irish landscapes and capture the spirit, people and culture of modern Ireland on canvas.
Presenter Pauline McLynn, herself a lover of art and the subject of many a portrait, shepherds our amateur painters through triumphs and disappointments as week-by-week our seven hopefuls are reduced to just three Painting the Nation finalists.
The weekly challenges will push our amateur painters to their creative limits. From landscapes to still life to portraits, each against-the-clock challenge tests different skills. In some cases, our artists have complete artistic freedom; but from time to time, the judges up the ante by limiting the colours or changing the materials.
The final Exhibition Challenge each week is the true test of our artists’ skill and technique. The Masterpiece Challenge subjects range from the Mountains of Mourne to the Killarney Races, a portrait of a modern Irish beauty and the majestic River Shannon. Not only must our painters pull out all the stops to win a coveted place in the final – but they must also impress the locals.
Everywhere we go, the Painting the Nation pop-up gallery will be installed – and in every location local people invited to tell us what they think of the paintings. So what will the people of Carlingford make of our amateur painters’ renditions of the Mountains of Mourne? How will the citizens of Wicklow react to the seven different versions of their beloved Powerscourt Waterfall? What will society beauty Roz Purcell’s friends and family make of our semi-finalists’ portraits of her? And will the good people of Killarney love or loathe our amateur painters’ renditions of the Killarney Races?
At the end of each episode, one deserving painter will be named of ‘Painter of the Week’ – while the painter whose final painting doesn’t meet the Judge’s standards will leave the competition.
The series culminates in a dramatic paint-off on Ireland’s greatest waterway, the majestic river Shannon. Which painting of the mighty river will be deemed good enough to take a place in the OPW’s state collection and go on display in Dublin Castle?
With stunning aerial shots of some of Ireland’s most beautiful places and buildings, and the fun of watching ordinary people push their artistic talents to the limit, we hope Painting the Nation will get the nation’s creative juices flowing!
Judges’ Biographies
Una Sealy
Una Sealy, who lives in Howth, is an award winning painter and graduate of Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design (now IADT), in Fine Art & Painting, and UCD (Higher Diploma in Arts Administration). She is a recently elected full Member of the Royal Hibernian Academy.
Una works mostly in oils on canvas. She is inspired by the people and places around her, and has produced many much-admired paintings of Dublin’s north-side suburbs of Howth, Baldoyle and Clontarf. She is also well-known for her portraits, which are usually informal, and often of family and friends. She prefers to work directly from life, rather than from photographs.
She has had nine solo exhibitions, including at the Ashford Gallery, the Royal Hibernian Academy (2000 & 2016), the Molesworth Gallery (2004 & 2006), and a major review show at Draíocht (2012–2013). Her work has been selected for group shows in San Francisco, New York and Britain as well as many in Ireland, and she regularly exhibits at the RHA’s annual exhibition.
She was the winner of the Adam’s Award for the artist whose work held the most potential for future appreciation at the RHA Annual Exhibition in 2015, and she was one of 12 finalists shortlisted for the Hennessy Portrait Prize in 2014. At the RHA in 2011 she was awarded the Ireland-U.S. Council/Irish Arts Review Award for Outstanding Portraiture. She has been awarded several Arts Council bursaries, including a Travel and Training award for a period of study in France in 2013.
Una is a regular invited tutor on drawing and painting courses at the RHA School, and at Ireland’s National Gallery.
Gabhann Dunne
Originally from Kildare, Gabhann Dunne is now a Dublin-based painter and is represented by the Molesworth Gallery. He graduated with fine art degrees from Dublin Institute of Technology and the National College of Art and Design.
He is a former winner of the RDS Taylor Art Award and the Hennessy Craig Scholarship at the Royal Hibernian Academy. He was described by art critic Cristín Leach – writing in the Sunday Times in May, 2015 – as ‘one of the best Irish painters of his generation’.
Gabhann teaches with the National Learning Network in Phibsboro. He has had multiple solo exhibitions and was awarded a Dublin City Council artist’s residency on Bull Island. His work has been exhibited throughout Ireland and Europe and he recently completed a commission for Facebook in Dublin.
Gabhann works mostly in oil on board or canvas. He paints landscapes, both real and imagined, as well as animals, plants and portraits. His work is informed by a broad spectrum of authors, social commentators and ecologists, and by both historical and contemporary painters. He also draws inspiration from reading, world and local events, and their effect on the environment.
FINALIST BIOGRAPHIES
SINEAD MCCARTHY (41) – Cork
Sinead McCarthy always loved to paint and did a diploma in fine art in the nineties. Her plan was to pursue a career as a full-time artist. However, following the sudden death of her mother when she was in college, Sinead says she lost her ambition and put her dreams on hold.
Sinead went on to work designing murals and working as a sign-writer but says she lost her creative spark when it became less about art and all about making a living. Having settled into life in Dripsey, County Cork, with her husband, Sinead threw herself into raising their three children, Aisling, Conor and Maggie. About five years ago, she began painting again in a bedroom at home. Now, with her youngest daughter in school, she says it is time to do something for herself and finally pursue her passion for painting.
She loves working with pencils and acrylics and recreating images from photographs. She draws inspiration from the world around her and particularly enjoys capturing her children and local landscapes in paint.
When she isn’t painting and spending time with her husband and children Sinead enjoys dancing and walking, and is part of a local orienteering group.
ALAN RYAN (49) – Living in Enniscorthy, Wexford, originally from County Dublin
After years traveling as a geologist, Alan Ryan, from Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, became a full-time dad to children Luke and Emily. He has always felt that he had an inner painter bursting to emerge. Having returned to college as a mature student, Alan says that in middle-age he has embraced the idea of life-long learning, of never standing still. And now that the children are a little older, he wants to take the time to focus on developing his painting skills.
Alan’s other great passion is fitness: he has competed in sixteen Iron Man triathlons worldwide. At the tender age of 42, he became the Irish Iron Man champion. He is the only Irishman from the Republic of Ireland ever to finish on the podium at the World Iron Man Championships. He has done so twice, claiming a third place in the over-45 age group at his last attempt in 2012.
Alan is a keen portrait painter and enjoys painting portraits for family and friends. Having grown up in Skerries, County Dublin, he also draws inspiration from landscapes and the sea. He most enjoys working with oils and says he sees the world through the eyes of a painter always thinking of different ways to paint places and objects. He says he prefers to paint in private – he doesn’t even like his wife watching him work!
He says that painting is similar to training for an Iron Man – albeit without the pain. Painting gives him the same sense of satisfaction and calm as training.
SINEAD LAWLESS (37) – Living in Dublin, originally from County Cork
Originally from Cork City, Sinead Lawless lives with her husband, cat and dog in Dublin.
Her creative streak was nurtured from a very young age by an artistic grandfather who taught her basic painting and drawing. She had her heart set on studying fine art, but instead studied animation and went on to work as an illustrator and designer.
In 2006, Sinead was diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis and admitted to Intensive Care. Her illness forced her to leave full-time work and she used the time out not only to recover, but to re-evaluate her life and focus on what was really important to her.
After her recovery, she began to spend time painting in her bedroom studio at home. She has no formal training in fine art but feels she would love now to develop her artistic streak in this direction. Painting has had a hugely positive impact on Sinead’s health; she says she loves it because it has given her an outlet for her creativity which doesn’t sap her physical energy. She enjoys the freedom painting gives her to be expressive, and says she would happily sit for hours and paint.
Last year she and her brother began teaching basic illustration and animation classes, mainly to children. She absolutely loved it, and hopes to do more teaching.
Sinead’s other great love is music and she is part of the Dublin Ukulele Collective.
AGNIESZKA RYAN (30) – Living in Meath, originally from Poland
Agnieszka is originally from Poland and now lives in Navan, County Meath with her husband Andy and son Aaron. Having studied art in secondary school, she didn’t think she would ever make a career of it, but started to paint as a hobby when she became pregnant with her first child.
Agnieszka paints in her spare time in her sitting-room at home. The walls in her home are adorned with her many paintings, She enjoys painting portraits and caricatures as gifts for friends. Portrait-painting is her real love, but she also enjoys painting landscapes and says she finds inspiration in the beauty of Ireland.
She works exclusively in oils and, when she is not busy at work as a Healthcare Assistant, she takes the time to paint. Agnieszka also enjoys cooking and baking with Aaron. As a family, they enjoy going for walks near their home with their dog.
LOUISE TREACY (61) – Living in Tagoat, Wexford, originally from Dublin
When she isn’t travelling the highways of Europe in her trusty camper-van ‘Thelma’, Louise Treacy lives in Tagoat, County Wexford. Louise’s interest in art was sparked in her late teens when she worked in hand-lettering and design for a local box-printing company.
Louise always dreamt of studying art properly but circumstances never allowed her to do so. She worked at a variety of jobs over the years, but it wasn’t until later in life that she allowed her creative side to flourish again. First she enrolled in a local life-drawing class. Then, in her mid-50s, having been made redundant, Louise took the leap to study art. In 2009, she completed a diploma in art, craft and design in her local IT. She then went onto complete a degree in fine art, specialising in sculpture.
Louise always longed to own a camper-van. Now that she does, she spends her time traveling with ‘Thelma’ stopping off to paint any passing landscape that inspires her. She enjoys working in oil and watercolours, and also making things out of disused and broken objects she finds. Louise travels around Ireland and Europe to take part in landscape- painting – or “plein air” – events and competitions. She has had some success in these competitions and has won prizes for her work.
In her spare time Louise also loves to write poetry, and, when she’s back at home, is kept busy by her grandchildren and occasional gardening.
DAVID MONAGHAN (19) – Gorey, Co. Wexford
Nineteen year-old David lives in Gorey, Co. Wexford, with his Mum and sister. Ever since he was a child, David loved drawing, and displayed a particular talent for copying drawings and cartoons using pencil and chalk. First introduced to the joys of painting in transition year, he began to spend more and more time painting.
David now paints in his bedroom. He loves to work with acrylics, though has recently started to paint with oils. He particularly enjoys painting portraits. He mostly paints portraits of family and friends and copies images of famous people from photographs he finds on the internet. He has also begun to dabble in abstract painting, and enjoys drawing and illustration with pen and ink.
Although he is only nineteen, David has already won competitions and accolades for his work. In 2014, he was awarded fourth place in the Texaco Children’s Art competition for his portrait of poet Seamus Heaney. He later presented the painting to President Michael D Higgins. In August 2014 he was invited to exhibit his portraits of international peace-builders to foreign diplomats at the Caux Palace in Switzerland. Last year, he won the title of ‘Young Artist of the Year’ in a competition organised by the Talbot Hotel in Wexford. His portrait of Sir William Orpen is currently on display at the hotel.
In his downtime, David bakes shortbread, watches history documentaries, reads and socialises with friends.