Study in Green, Grays and Red

Study in Green, Grays and Red (after Leffel)- oil on canvas - 18"x16 - sold
Private Collection, California.

Another composition inspired by my study of the works and thought processes of David Leffel and my time spent with Gregg Kreutz at the Art Students League of New York in 2012. This piece began over a year ago and worked on it on and off over a period of time. Only brought to a finish one evening recently.

Below is a detail from the work.

Black Vessels with Grey and Orange

Black Vessels with Grey and Orange after David Leffel, original title unknown
- oil on linen panel - 12"x9" - sold
Private Collection, Ireland.

Since I was a child I have been trying to reconnect with an art that seemed miraculous and near unobtainable. Unknown to me, I somehow wanted to reconnect with it's historical life which I felt alive and present, but distant.

A few years ago I came across a book with images in it by a painter called David Leffel and was really struck by his work, as his paintings to my eyes, seemed  to build a bridge back towards a somewhat lost knowledge. Their orchestration and mystery interested me greatly.

Then I was lucky enough to be accepted to work in the studio of Leffel's star pupil, Gregg Kreutz at the Art Student League of New York in 2012. I spent two months his crowded studio in advance of my second New York solo show and learnt a great deal. During that period I created several of these 'arrangements' and understood more.

I began this painting in Thailand last year, sometime in late November, and over time worked on the piece at different stages from reference, finishing it a couple of weeks ago.

SEPIL Corrib Commission 002 - Traveling New Roads.

On my immediate arrival to Bellmullet for my first site visit, on Monday July 29th 2013, I was compelled to write, desperately wanting to record the experiences of my first journey from my studio in the heart of the Burren, County Clare, to the vast expanses of north County Mayo. I had wished I had a dictaphone with me all the way, but the memories of the journey were still fresh in my experience.

Sometime after leaving my studio in Ballyvaughan I began to miss the soft Burren landscape, feeling lost on roads until I entered County Mayo. Then the world opened up again!

On a regional road towards Bellacorrick, (which seemed to go on forever) all twentynine kilometers of it! I thought more philosophically about 'the road ahead', and how when traveling new roads you just trust that the road will unfold ahead of you presenting you with the next piece of the journey and so on, eventually bringing you to your intended destination. In a way this feeling extends through my life as an artist, always trusting that the next brush stroke or mark will lead on to further places yet undiscovered - a new destination.

This winding road, so beautiful with the Glenamoy river on my left, made me think of my great grandfather Daddy Jim Hearns (b.1850), and his brother Frank, the famous fishermen. They surely must have fished this pristine river.

Then I meet a lake, wild and windblown. I continued to snake along this sheltered road catching glimpses of mountains which seemed close by. And then out, onto the vast bog plains which stretched away on all sides, and then rose up into unreachable heights out of nowhere. 

I looked at this wild and untamed landscape, contemplating the job that lay ahead of me. A feeling of foreboding, something sinister rose up in me, knowing of the opposition and history of this project and of some of the more contentious issues, but perhaps that was heightened by the recording from Conception des lumières by Anne Dutoya which was playing ominously that moment on RTE Lyric FM!

I continued on, acknowledging several farmers who worked tirelessly on fences at the side of the road. I reminded myself to be aware and conscious of the communities here and their important traditions. 

These small bog roads rose and fell, knocking out any kinks in the spin. It was a real adventure as I had never taken this road before. And then I was there, having entered the Gaeltacht and the larger Erris area.

Since that journey I have had two site visits, inductions and safety training and had the opportunity to visit the sites at Aughoose, Glengad and a walk from the Leenamore River Crossing along the entire Wayleave. 

I have also taken the time to explore sections of the vast and stunning landscape around the Barony of Erris with it's extraordinary natural beauty,  sandy beaches and sea cliffs carved by the atlantic. The area covers around two hundred and ten thousand acres!

The works I have began to date includes notebook sketches and larger studies in oil on canvas. I am making great progress and have a number of strong visual references that I am working with currently.

I look forward now to my next site visit where I am planning to compose paintings at the Terminal at Bellinaboy, progressing this body of work further. At that stage, I believe, I will have a very good idea of how the overall project might unfold and what I will be interested to record in paint.

Please do pop your email address into the 'subscribe' feature on this Blog to receive updates on this project, my work, and future exhibitions.

Web: www.richardhearns.com 
Blog: www.richardhearnspaintings.blogspot.com

Email: info@richardhearns.com
Phone: + 353 (0)86 216 1135.

Light Bulb in Wrappings

Light Bulb in Wrappings - oil on linen canvas - 12"x10" 
Private Collection, New York City

This painting was a wonderfully interesting and rewarding challenge.

It can be amazingly insightful to see how you tackle certain subjects, and this painting was no exception.
How to compose and render bubble wrap, a crumpled white foam sheet and cardboard, all bathe in natural light.

You could say I had a sort of 'Light Bulb' moment!

Hope you Like it. - Richard.

P.S Below an image of me at work on this piece a couple of weeks ago.

48th Irish Antiques Dealers Fair

My work is to appear, represented by Ib Jorgensen of the Jorgensen Fine Art Gallery, at the 48th Irish Antiques Dealers Fair.

This Antiques Fair opens this Friday 27th of September at the Royal  Dublin Society, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 with a preview on Thursday 26th from 6pm to 9pm.

Please see invite attached for details.

- Richard

Composition in Red and Green

(Apple, Can and Frame,) Composition in Red and Green - oil on fine linen - 12"x10

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Over the past few years have I concentrated solely on the development of  my painting, and in some ways neglected my drawing in this pursuit.

Painting and drawing are, in my opinion, very different and require a shift in thinking and perception not to mention totally different handling and application.

During my school years and for the most part during college I worked specifically through drawing, rarely using any colour at all in my work. Over time then, during my travels abroad, my notebooks gradually developed from concentrated drawing into full colour finished paintings.

My tutors in college always encouraged my drawing and I used it as the foundation for the development and explorations of all my ideas for the video/sound pieces I created during that period.

So, during  a visit to the Smithsonian Museum of Art in Washington DC earlier this year I came across this book, 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain - a course in enhancing creativity and artistic confidence'.
I had seen this book in college years ago and decided that it was time to get back to drawing again. The book is in it's fourth edition. Have any of you ever worked through this course?

Attached are two Charcoal and Tea stain drawings I created around 1999 entitled 'Day'  and 'Night'.
The drawings are based on imagined images of Brian Keenan during his abduction and imprisonment in the Lebanon. Also, this mornings exercise from the book, to copy Picasso's drawing, ' Portrait of Igor Stravinsky'.

Egg, Shell and Complements

Egg, Shell and Complements - oil on fine linen canvas - 12"x10"

Created some weeks ago, this painting is another example of how I arrange various subjects in the afternoon and evening after a days painting from observation outdoors.

Composing pieces like this can be great fun, as I feel really free when painting still life and tend to push and pull the paint around in very unusual and exciting ways until I reveal image I want.
Perhaps it is because the image before me is so stable, unlike the light and subjects in the landscape, that I feel more free to be as daring in my approach and process.

Unlike the common academic approach taken by many when composing subjects like this, I have developed numerous or innumerous ways in which I begin a painting. In fact, I never 'know' how I might tackle a piece but just dive into it with abandon. This really keeps the excitement alive during the process of realizing the finished piece, and I feel gives the painting an extra vigor in many cases.

This painting is currently reserved for a coming solo exhibit at Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin.

For pricing and purchasing information please email, info@richardhearns.com
or contact me here or by phone at + 353 (0) 86 216 1135.

Below is an image of the painting and still life set up.

Vessel and Grapes

Vessel and Grapes - oil on canvas - 16"x12" - sold
Private Collection, Cyprus

This painting was created some weeks ago.
In the afternoons and evenings I have been working on pieces like this. I leave my studio and come over to this corner of my kitchen where a soft north light filters through the window.

The painting, with it's soft weightiness created by the objects is contrasted and heightened by the symmetry of the composition and use of line.

For pricing and purchasing please contact, info@richardhearns.com
or + 353 (0)86 216 1135

Below an image of the painting during it's creation.

SEPIL Commissioned Project 001

Firstly, I would like to welcome any new visitors to my art blog from Shell E&P Ireland Limited (SEPIL), Statoil Exploration Ireland and Vermilion Energy as well as BAM, Roadbridge and all of the subcontracted companies and professionals working on site or in the background at the Corrib Natural Gas Installation.

It is my hope that you, along with all my wonderful readers, supporters, collectors and subscribers worldwide will enjoy seeing this Commissioned Painting Project unfold and develop over the coming year.

In the autumn of 1926 Ireland's most famous political painter Sean Keating  began a series of paintings to commemorate an engineering project which became known as 'The Shannon Scheme'. This series of paintings commemorates a collaboration between Siemens and the Electricity Supply Board's (ESB)'s work to bring electricity to all of Ireland by way of hydro power.

Artist Sean Keating on site at Ardnacrusha, © RTE Stills Library.

In late November of 2012 Peter Colleran of SEPIL contacted me on viewing my work and this collection of Keating's paintings entitled 'Enlightenment and Legacy'. Peter and I began a dialogue around the idea of commemorating the 'Corrib' project along similar lines.

By means of a somewhat crude introduction to all my new visitors, my name is Richard Hearns. I am a thirty three year old Irish Visual Artist who has been working full time as a professional artist since obtaining a Bachelor Degree in Fine Art interdisciplinary Digital Media in 2002 at IADT, and a Higher Diploma in Art, Craft and Design Education in 2004 from The National College of Art and Design (NCAD).

My work has brought me all over the world, and I have to date collectors and subscribers on all four continents.  I have been drawing and painting since I can remember, in fact I can never remember a time when drawing and painting was not an integral part of who I am. For the last number of years I have worked and kept studios in the south and the west of Ireland both in Roscommon and County Kerry as well as County Mayo and now in the Burren, County Clare.

A great deal of my work to date involves working from life and out in the open landscape where I can truly experience and savor the various compositions I arrange in front of me. I work mostly in a representational style, meaning I create paintings that mimic to some degree the real world, and become a distillation of my experience.

Artist Richard Hearns at the easel, near the village of Ballyvaughan.

I look forward now and over the coming months to introducing you all to my work and this project as it unfolds by way of a monthly blog update and newsletter.

I too have set myself deadlines and a minimum output for the period in question and am excited to share with you my processes, insights and developments, as the project unfolds, as well as my other ongoing work for coming solo exhibitions in Dublin and New York City.

I am sure I will, over the course of the commission, meet with many of you who are working on the project, both on site and in the offices of SEPIL and the partnering contracted companies. I very much look forward to those encounters.

The Corrib Natural Gas installation is an incredible energy project, not without its controversy, and I look forward to capturing many aspects of its development and history in paint to become a document and record for the Irish nations history.

Here below are a couple of images of  preliminary sketches in oil on canvas to whet your appetite.

Please do pop your email address into the 'subscribe' feature on this Blog to receive updates on my work, projects and exhibitions.

Yours Sincerely,
Richard Hearns B.A, HDip ADe

Web: www.richardhearns.com 
Blog: www.richardhearnspaintings.blogspot.com

Email: info@richardhearns.com
Phone: + 353 (0)86 216 1135.