
I was delighted to see my two Donegal paintings “Up Bloody Foreland, Donegal” and “The through Road, Donegal” on the walls of the London Irish Centre (Camden, London). These two oil paintings form part of a “real room” of an Irish family in 1950s Britain installation. The exhibition, which is on during August through to […]

Donegal is a big mountaneous county in a big country. Imagine my shock when I discover that it’s only the 4th largest in Ireland (after Cork, Galway and Mayo) at 4,860 km2 (1,880 sq miles). It seems even bigger as there is no railway or motorways here, so it takes a long time to travel around all the mountains. One of joys of the county is that it’s relatively empty (the 5th least populated in Ireland) with 32.6 people per km2.

There’s a good reason why landscape painters use the “landscape” orientation for their canvases – i.e. the longest side is horizontal – and that’s because you can fit more landscape in that way. I have recently discovered another good reason – social media and wordpress thumbnails don’t like tall narrow paintings and crop them.

Everybody loves the Georgian Houses It seems like certain styles never go out of fashion. Last year Georgian-style houses topped a poll of the most popular home styles. I suspect that people like scale of the house as well as the the pillars and generous sized windows. Nothing says lord of the manor like a […]
All five are beautiful paintings!
Thank you, Hien.
You’ve done a wonderful job here, Emma!
Thank you!
There’s something quite majestic and solemn about the Sitting Bull. I really like the color palette too.
I think the bulls are so massive that they end up looking quite serene because it’s a lot of effort to move, and I don’t think they need to. There’s not a lot they are worried by. It’s funny that bulls have such a reputation in stories for being dangerous but these Gower bulls (and cows) are very laid back. No rings in their noses. The only ones who people say watch out for are the mother when their calves are little, will get protective. That’s understandable. i think its because they are very used people walking past them on a daily basis. The sheep and ponies on the Gower common lands (where they roam freely, not in fenced off fields) are pretty much the same.
great paintings, all of them . You have a very good job Emma 🙂
Thank you, Cecile.
I always liked the German Angus breed.The pure black makes them more mysterious.
Great paintings Emma!
We have Black Welsh cattle here, I didn’t know there was a German Angus breed (I’m not a farmer but a townie) but I am familiar with Aberdeen Angus. I looked them up and the German Angus is a version of Aberdeen with German genes added in. Fine looking animals!
Beautiful Emma.
Thanks, Sue
Love cows, and their gentle faces. You capture them beautifully. My grandad used to raise them as a farmer, which although it was his ‘second’ job, it was the one he was most suited to with his gentle nature.
Thank you, Marie. Yes, many small farmers in Wales also have to have “other” jobs to keep things going.
lucky cows, hanging out at the beach! I love this series, the white cow the most.
Thanks, Melissa
What a beautiful series Emma!
Thank you, Cindy