Take me to the Island II (2013) Original Oil Painting by John O'Grady

Islands have often been used as places of isolation and contemplation such as the monastic site of Skellig Michael off the west coast of Ireland. And they have had a long association with literature and mythology as a metaphor for a place of refuge from the world, where imagination can escape to and wander freely outside of the confines of the “real world”, whatever that is.

I find myself coming back to these veiled forms on the horizon, non specific in terms of topography but specific enough in my mind that it feels like Ireland.

Maybe making a painting can be a flight from the “real world” to a reality of the imagination.

I was thinking, during the making of this painting, about the lives that people led on my veiled island, of their view onto the mainland looking back at me and what they saw and felt.

Materials used:

Mixed Media

Details:

• Oil painting on Panel / Board / MDF
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 41 x 30.5 x 0.5cm (unframed) / 41 x 30.5cm (actual image size)
• Signed on the front
• Style: Surrealistic
• Subject: Landscapes, sea and sky