This painting kept me busy through the summer of 2023. I started in May and was finished by late July, At 100cm x 150cm it was bigger than my usual canvases and I was able to pack a whole lot of detail in. I used photos I had taken from the Cape Clear ferry in 2021 during a heatwave, and had been longing to tackle this scene ever since. I have touched on this view many times of course, often painting the Sailing Club, the castle and the Square, or all three, but this time I wanted to show as much as possible. I can sometimes be guilty of painting Baltimore and the islands the way they were in my childhood, with red sailed Mirror dinghies and some buildings mysteriously edited out! But for this I was keen to be contemporary and checked up on what type of dinghy is used at the sailing club. I did however give myself some artistic license and chose to paint a Sherkin ferry that doesn't seem to be used much... The roll on - roll off one just wasn't working for me!
I got the painting beautifully captured digitally, and have brought out two limited edition print runs, one very large at 60cm x 90cm, and another more accessible size of 40cm x 60cm. Richard at the Yellow Door Gallery in Baltimore stocks them, and they can also be ordered from this website (at the same price).