Driving
into Ardara, County Donegal, one November day, from our cottage in Crumlin along the
shores of Loughros Beg, we came across a small flock of sheep being brought
down a hill to our left by a pair of sheepdogs and a farmer. I
screeched to a halt at the side of the road but my vision was blocked by
the hedgerow. I stood on the car door sill and held the camera
high over my head as high as I could reach and fired away, shooting video, not knowing what the
camera was recording. I got lucky and captured a great bit of video
which became part of a larger video called Ireland in November. (You can see it on my video page on my website.)
It was a year later when I began this painting, because I was a little afraid of it, I knew it would be difficult and I really didn't know how I was going to handle the hedgerow. And it did prove to be a hard slog, but after about three times as many painting sessions as is normal, I declared it finished. Leonardo da Vinci said, "Art is never finished, only abandoned." And so it goes.
