Tuesday, June 10, 2014

INTERVIEW | Artist Padraig McCaul - The Mayo News

Bringing in the people

On Keel Beach, Achill
published by The Mayo News, June 2014

Interview 
Ciara Moynihan

Achill-based landscape artist Padraig McCaul turned 50 this year. So far his lifetime, he’s worn many different hats. Arts student. Accountancy student. Clothing retailer. IT professional. Band member of The Harvest Ministers. Husband and dad. Artist.  Some hats he tried on, didn’t like the fit and put away; others he continues to wear with pride.

The old stressful life in retail and IT now is a distant memory. Now, he’s a full-time artist, producing his own work and giving classes. For many years, McCaul’s landscapes were  unpopulated – buildings might appear, but never people. That’s changed now too.

Originally from Dún Laoghaire in Dublin, McCaul now lives on Achill with his wife, Anne, and their three children, six-year-old twins Claire and Rory and three-year-old Tom. His family have become part of his work, and along with the island, they too now are inspiration and motivation.

‘Island Life’, an exhibition of McCaul’s work, opened in The Western Light Art Gallery, Keel, Achill, on Sunday. In it, viewers will find McCaul’s distinctive landscapes, some peopled, some not. All are Achill.
Atlantic Cliffs, Achill; 60x60cms; Oil on Canvas


The move west
“Friends of mine used to come to Achill camping  every year, and when I started painting – about 15 years ago – they said, ‘you’ve got to come over to here’,” McCaul tells The Mayo News.

“I’d never been before. I came over for the first time maybe 12 years ago. I came over on my own. I’d spent two months in San Francisco with work and it was quite a stressful job over there … When I came home I said, I’m going to take a week off – I need a break from this. So I used that time to come over to Achill.
“I booked myself into the Bervie Guesthouse, and I just had the most incredible four days. I’d never been struck by a place … I was just gobsmacked. It was June – glorious sunshine, blue skies. I was just blown away. Completely and utterly captivated. Every day I was looking at different parts, and I just fell in love with the place.  

“I started coming back regularly over the years, painting. Then we got a house on Achill, about seven years ago. I got married eight years ago, and we’d come and go between Dublin and Achill.”
The west constantly tugged, and eventually, the McCauls decided to stay. “When the twins were ready to go to school … we said we’d come down to Achill and see how it works out. And it’s been brilliant; absolutely great.

“The kids started school here in Saula and our little guy, Tom, started in naíonra this year. Because we got to know a lot of people over the years from coming down, it’s just been a lovely transition. We’ve been very warmly welcomed into the community.”

'Facing the Atlantic', 50x50cms
Love of the landscape  Since moving to Achill, the island has formed the bulk of what McCaul paints. Words such as ‘desolate’, ‘stark’, ‘quiet’, ‘provocative’ have been used to describe McCaul’s work. While the qualities are certainly there, the paintings are not depressing.
“It [the landscape of the west] can seem pretty desolate and wild, and sometimes I want to get some of that into a painting, but all of my paintings have to have warmth. Warmth draws people in. Some of the work would be that broody, dark, sort of west-of-Ireland skies … but even with those pieces, I’ll try to make sure there’s life or warmth in the painting somewhere.”

He cites French artist Claude Idlas as an influence. “Very simple shapes, lovely strong, blocky colours – primary colours, primary yellows and blues and reds, and various shades and hues of them  … happy paintings. When I started painting I wanted to get across something like that as well.”
McCaul found ways to use the same colours, but ‘to make them believable’ in an Irish landscape. “With a lot of traditional Irish landscape [art], the colours might be true to what you see on a fairly dull day, but they just don’t convey any sense of warmth.

“I use the colours to get the right feeling. That feeling, say, of standing on the beach all on your own. That’s one of my first memories of Achill. I couldn’t sleep, so I got up at about six in the morning and went for a walk on the beach. A beautiful summer’s morning – no one there, tide out. It was just this idyllic morning. The sound of the sea, the breeze, the cliffs. And I was sketching it – but how do you get across that amazing sense of feeling, that sense of being there on your own, listening to the water, the early-morning birds and the wind? I think colours are a way of doing that.

“There’s a lot of movement in my work too. All the work is done with a palette knife. The initial painting is painted with a brush in outline … everything else I do with a knife, constantly moving and blending the paint around the canvas. So even though there might be a simple composition with three or four main elements, there’s a huge amount of movement in subtle colour changes. Every block of colour has a lot going on within it.”

'On Keel Beach', 60x60cms
Peopling scenes
McCaul’s work has recently begun to move away from ‘strict landscape’, and he has started to introduce figures.
“All my paintings were always about landscape,” McCaul explains. “Even when I put buildings into them, the buildings were simply there to draw your attention. They were always kept very simple – no doors, no windows, no man-made elements other than the shape of the building. The idea is to draw the viewer in, but there’s nothing there to hold you – you continue on into the landscape. The buildings are effectively part of the landscape.”

The appearance of figures is linked to one of McCaul’s other hats – the hat of the musician. “I was prompted by Will [William Merriman], who I play with in The Harvest Ministers. We just released an anthology of the best of what we’ve done over the last 20 years. We’ve released six albums and various singles over time, particularly in the ’90s. Will asked me to do something for the album cover, and he specifically wanted me to put some people in the painting. And I was like, ‘Will, I don’t do people!’”
Merriman wouldn’t take no for an answer, however, so McCaul gave it a go – and he discovered a new element to incorporate into his landscape art.
'The Paddling Pool' - 40x40cms

“I was looking for a way to put people or figures into the paintings that allowed me to use them in the same way that I use the buildings – as focal points, where I could put lots of colour and lots of texture but very little detail. So I started putting in very simple spherical heads and a body and two legs and that’s it. Everything else – all the character – is in the colour, and maybe the slight of a figure’s stance. You can put a lot of expression and character into that.

And the figures themselves? Well, they were there all along, under another of McCaul’s favourite hats. They are the members of his own family.
“The paintings are much more personal, because they’re about my own family – but they’re still landscape paintings. Even though the people might be the central figures, like the buildings, they’re not there to hold you – they’re there to draw you in and bring you to the rest of the painting. They’re a way to bring the landscape out.” 
'Under the Shelter of Slievemore' , 60x60cms

The focal points might be kept simple, but there’s one detail likely to resonate with local viewers: the occasional appearance of a Mayo jersey. “Ah,” McCaul laughs, “That’s ’cause unfortunately my kids, the three of them, have switched over to Mayo. So we’ve got three Mayo supporters in the house. My little guy, Rory, started playing football about two years ago, and he’s really gone completely Mayo mad. We go into McHale Park for the home games. I tried to push Dublin at them, but they’re not interested…!

“It’s amazing the way you can tell a story in a painting just by including one or two tiny details, like a jersey or a football – but still leave enough room for whoever’s looking at the painting to put themselves into it or take more from it.”

Padraig McCaul’s exhibition, ‘Island Life’, is running at The Western Light Art Gallery, Keel, Achill, throughout the summer. For more information on the artist, his work and his classes, visit www.padraigmccaul.com.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Art in Action....on Achill Island 2014

I've just spent the last 3 days demonstrating and exhibiting at Art in Action, at Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. And it's been a blast!

Art in Action - Farmleigh House, 2014
This was the first time I have ever attended Art in Action, let alone take part in it. But when I was invited last year to take part in the 2014 event I jumped at the chance, having heard about it through some friends and other artists. The concept is very simple - bring together a diverse collection of painters, craft workers, ceramicists, sculptors, in fact all types of artists, and have them share what they do with the general public.

So I set up temporary studio in the Craftworkers marquee and painted for the 3 days. 
Art in Action 2014
What a great way to spend the weekend:) This was a real family event, with both children's and adults art classes being held each day - painting, potting, all sorts of crafts. It was just a great festival of art! And it's got me all fired up for my first painting workshop of 2014 which takes place on Achill Island next weekend, May 10th and 11th.

 There are still some places left - but if even a 10th of the people that said they wanted to come to Achill for one of my workshops show up then I'm in trouble! The full list of dates for my 2014 workshops on Achill Island are:
  

May - 10th/11th
Art in Action, on Achill Island!
June - 7th/8th ( *This looks like it might be fully booked, pending confirmation from 2 people. So please check with me first)
July - 29th/30th/31st - This is being run as part of the Scoil Acla Summer School.
August - 4/5/6/7
August - 11/12/13/14
August - 18/19/20/21

Full details of the workshops can be found at www.padraigmccaul.com



Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Unique Limited Edition Print 'FAMILY' Now Available

'Family' Limited Edition Print with Oil Over-Painting

My new Limited Edition Print FAMILY  is now available to order.

Printed on Hanemuele German Etching Paper, each print is individually hand finished, the figures being over-painted in Oil, making each copy a one-off, unique piece.  The edition is limited to 25 and comes mounted and framed.

Details:
Image Size: 11.5" x 11.5"
Edition Size: 25
Framed Size: 40x40cms
Price: €295 (Including shipping)


The print will be available at my upcoming exhibition Family Album which runs in the Dun Laoghaire Art Gallery from April 3rd to 19th. View the full exhibition here...http://www.padraigmccaul.com/GalleryMain.asp?GalleryID=142532&AKey=HPCT53G4

For further details please contact me at info@padraigmccaul.com or ph:086 8801733

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

What's the difference between Miles Davis and Miles Davis?

About 10 years it seems....

I've never been a big Jazz fan. The only jazz album I've ever owned until recently is Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, which by any standard is probably one of the best ever recorded. Sketches from Spain is another I bought around the same time, but that has always sounded more like an orchestral piece to me so I don't really count that. But I fell in love with Kind of Blue the first time I heard it. The music and the playing on it are just amazing.

Well it's been on the iPod a lot in the studio lately, and it led me to search out some more from Miles. So after downloading a couple of 'Best of' albums ('The Real Miles Davis' is a great one) I finally went and bought Bitches Brew. None of the tracks on this album tend to feature on any of the 'Best Of' albums, and yet it is routinely cited as one of the top three Miles Davis albums (Kind of Blue is always in the list too). And if you listen to it you can see why.

There is only 10 years between them (Kind of Blue was released in 1959 and Bitches Brew in 1969) but the difference in style and sound is unreal and could be measured in light years! There is something primal about the tracks on Bitches Brew,  it's like music in free fall, made up on the spot, and sounds nothing like the beautiful, melodic music of Kind of Blue. But it's a brilliant album too, it just gets in on you and is great music to work to. And it's by Miles Davis - the same guy that made Kind of Blue!


It's been on non-stop in the studio for the last month. I'm not sure if it's having any influence on the new paintings I've been working on, but you'll have a chance to see the results at my upcoming exhibition, Family Album, which opens in Dublin at Dun Laoghaire Art Gallery on April 3rd. There's still plenty of work to be done before then but here is  sneak preview of one of the new ones...
'Family'  Oil on Canvas, 50x50cms