About 

Frances Hynes, Ochre Skellig, County Kerry, Ireland, circa 1995-1996
Oil on canvas, mounted on canvas and masonite board
24.25 x 29.5 inches

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‘Ochre Skellig’ is a masterpiece. It’s monumental. It’s a great shape. It breathes. The ocean feels like the ocean and The Skellig Mountain is like an Alp Mountain rising from the sea.

The irregular edges and placement of the image on the second canvas are germaine to the painting.

Evidence of the folds in the canvas break up the spaces vertically and shifts the eye to another dimension.

Random marks create a sense of deep space, incident and activity on the horizon and suggest to the viewer distant images, and moving water in the foreground.

It’s a painting about a place and time but also very much about the creative painting process. The painting invites the viewer to observe and be aware of the mark making and decisions of the painter, when the painting was made. So it’s about present time, the experience of seeing the work now; but also conveys the viewer to the past moments when the work was painted.

The artist achieved an expansive and monumental feeling in this painting, which is a rare occurrence.

Emmitt Dolan, 1998
Ireland