Barry Dawkes

On the Rocks, Glenariff Wood

St Finbarr’s Oratory, Guagan Barra, West Cork

Autumn in the Highlands

Basket Case

I took up painting late in life at the age of 50.

I began with watercolours but having been inspired by the pastel paintings of Norfolk artist, Tony Garner, I bought a book and some pastels and taught myself to paint in pastels, a much underrated medium.

Six years later, having moved permanently  to West Cork, I became a member of the Pastel Society of Ireland.

The subjects I generally paint are Irish landscapes with an emphasis on woodland scenes and always with water, as I love its movement and reflections.  I rarely paint a landscape without water present in some form or other.

I use Pastelmat paper and Sennelier and Unison soft pastels.

For years, I resisted the use of a fixative but I now use it sparingly in the build up of a painting, but never  a finished painting, as I find it dulls the colours.

I don’t paint to sell, but for the sheer enjoyment that it gives me.

I taught watercolour and pastel painting on weekend courses for nine years under the name of West Cork Watercolour and am glad to have introduced pastel painting to many new artists.

I exhibit in the Cork School of Music every two years and have done so since 2013.