Bare branches against the winter sky

Lines drawn

each tree has its own language

Whip of willow 

filagree of birch

stitch of hawthorn

candelabra of ash

They draw their identity in the sky

I am oak, beech, blackthorn

A definite line withstanding the harsh weather

A structure, a skeleton

seeking, expanding

so leaves can reach light

Each branch dividing and dividing again 

large into smallest bud tip

A leader shoot primed to aim for the sky

A rigid structure but also a living flesh, with sap moving both ways

A vascular system transporting water, minerals, sugar

In winter resting, enduring

In protective lock down 

they hold still

stand naked, bare their bones

paused until the light returns

February 2026 Tyrone Guthrie centre

How do I describe a week in residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre? Well, it has to start with the house, which is warm and comfortable with lovely old rooms, the friendly welcoming staff and the other artists, musicians and writers. Dinner on the first night was a bit daunting with a full table of strangers to meet but there was a willingness to share and support each other as everyone settled into their own creative work. Then there was the studio space. I was in studio 5 which is a huge room. Such a luxury to have so much space and all day to work undisturbed on an idea.

I was focusing on bare branches of trees in winter. The way they draw lines in the sky. Over the days I built up a library of photos while walking the grounds and local roads. So many beautiful old trees in all their winter glory.  Working with the photographs I picked out characteristics of the trees, selected details to focus on, built up a collection of images which I will translate onto ceramic tiles. The results will look  abstracted but still hold the essence of the original tree.

 I am very grateful to have had this opportunity to go to the Tyrone Guthrie Centre. I came away from it inspired and encouraged and with lots of progress made on developing a new idea.

June has been a busy month for me. Limerick Ceramic Artists took part in two small exhibitions at the Absolute Hotel in Limerick and at the Clare Potter’s Market in Ballymorris.

I have been a member of Limerick Ceramic Artists since it began in 2010. What started out as a support network for ceramic artists, many of them graduates from Limerick School of Art and Design, developed into a group showcasing a wide variety of ceramics in an annual group exhibition.  We have exhibited in many venues in Limerick from the Hunt Museum to King John’s Castle. We have taken part in Culture night, joined in the Pig Town festival and had a special exhibition for the gathering of the O Malley clan.

We have had to be adaptable as there has been no dedicated visual arts space suitable for exhibiting ceramics in Limerick.  We have seen venues come and go.  We are grateful to the Limerick Arts Office, the Belltable and the Hunt Museum for their support over many years.

Next year we will be celebrating 15 years since our first exhibition which took place in the Hunt Museum!

In 2001 I planted over 200 trees in the acre field beside my home. They were small bare root whips slipped into a slot in the ground opened up by a spade. I planted them in groups of 5 or 7 and left an open meadow space in the middle of the field. In the early years the trees struggled to compete with the abundant gorse and bramble. I would cut my way into the undergrowth freeing up strangled trees.

 After 10 years the birches, rowans, oaks, holly, alder merged with the sally willows to form a wood. The bramble still grows beneath them. The gorse is confined. Ferns and moss flourish in the damp and shade. In Autumn red squirrels from Cratloe Woods make the perilous scamper across the road to raid the hazels and the cones of the Scots Pines.

In 2022 I built a small house in the open meadow area leaving the trees in place. I have started growing a garden planted with pollinator friendly plants, some of them from previous gardens, like the pale purple Irises that came from my grandmothers garden, around the house. 

I live surrounded by trees. These spring mornings I step out into a curtain of green full of birds going about their noisy business. This daily immersion gives me food for thought and new ideas.

Robins and wrens in the new porcelain tiles delivered to the Hunt Museum Gift Shop this week.

I am continuing to experiment with a technique that is new to me – washing away clay around a stencil to add a slight  raised relief to the surface – and  I am also playing around with the density of the blue stains.

The warm days of the last week have coaxed the trees out of their Winter hibernation. Fresh green leaves are uncurling. The birches unfold first, followed by the catkins on the willow trees and the hazel leaves.

Surrounded by all these new beginnings it feels like a very good time to launch this new version of my website. I look forward to adding images of fresh work and to having this space to record the development of my work.