John O'Grady Irish artist, Dublin and France

Irish artist John O'Grady, Dublin and France

When we make our way through landscape, we are touched and altered by its mood, light and the changing weather. We inhabit it and it inhabits us. This confluence is where my work lies.

I have stood on the shore in the west of Ireland and seen light and mist shifting over sea and land.

I have watched the last rays of sun sweep an orange glow across autumnal vines in Provence.

I have marvelled at yellow gorse flowers, brighter under a leaden sky at dawn.

These moments of alchemy are held in my visual and emotional memory.

You could think that I would be a plein air painter, directly facing the elements but I need to take some distance from the experience.

Standing before nature is emotionally overpowering.

In my studio, I paint with space and time for reflection and work intuitively with texture and colour, adding a mark here, subtracting a colour there,…

The painting is revealed organically and naturally, through me and out of me. An art work is finished when I reach a balance that does not mirror a specific landscape. Rather, it is a representation of emotions, of connections, a particular atmosphere or energy, a mood felt, a sense of time.

My work is rooted in the romantic landscape tradition.

Website: www.JohnOGradyPaintings.com