Just a quick one today. This summer is a little quieter on the exhibition side than I'd hoped, as my exhibition at Cill Rialaig Arts Centre has been cancelled due to the unexpected closure of the gallery. But, you win some and you lose some, and I was very fortunate to be awarded the Fen Ditton Contemporary Printmaking prize last month. The prize was £500, which I fairly quickly put towards buying yet more copper to continue this large series of etchings I've been working on. I'll be...

I've split this pair up for a while as the portrait of Yejin went firstly down to London for judging for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters annual show, and now is off to the RHA preselection in Dublin. For a painting of this size I have to channel Dick Whittington, with a shoulder sling made of a bedsheet around the well-wrapped canvas. Luke at St. Barnabas framed it beautifully in a teak-stained and maple-waxed tray frame. Exhibition at Cill Rialaig, 8th-26th August Otherwise, I'm...

I'd like to start by thanking everyone who has supported me, come to exhibitions, bought work or just offered kind words of encouragement and advice this year! Coming together and making, appreciating and critiquing art is a really important response to the AI-driven shitstorm aiming to keep us glued to our screens and consuming. My residency at Cill Rialaig in County Kerry drove home to me the societal benefits of folk culture, as in, stuff you do together with other people in the room. From...