The Farewell; 2002 - 2024

Change comes no matter what. It's our only certainty I believe. I'm sure I've said it before! Even if the future is full of promise, it is still sometimes difficult to let the past go.

Yet without fully releasing the past, it is difficult to embrace the promise of what may be ahead, or indeed, what is under our noses. 'Letting go' helps me to see all I have around me. Today for instance:

1. Enjoying the conversations after church (and the sermon of course! The subject was D.I.V.O.R.C.E. Not an issue in my world :-)

2. Taking a stroll along Cobh's five-foot way in the sunshine.

3. Watching fishermen fish.

4. Eating out for the first time in a long time (only 'Leonardo's' will do) while staying immersed in the sounds and sights at each table. (It's the little things).

I think that being in the 'now' is all that matters. I mean, really living in it.

To understand this has been a tough road, and I still often change direction: 'What if? Maybe then? If only?' You get it, right? But 'what' may you ask, 'is she saying?', and 'what' has this 'to do with art'? Everything!

In 2002 I moved to Cobh wanting to be a painter, and I mean - a 'throwing paint on canvas' type of painter. Or an, 'I'm having an exhibition' painter. It's not to say that all I achieved in twenty-two years doesn't count. It does count.

I am so proud of the portrait paintings that were part of my journey in Cobh soon after I arrived.

I am so proud I got to run a small gallery and studio above the Lusitania Pub where these characters of Cobh 'socialised'.

I am so proud of the detailed landscape paintings in and around Cobh (& the watercolours further afield).

I am so proud of 'The Artist's Cove and Tea Lounge' in Lower Midleton Street. I am proud of the work I displayed there, the images and prints I sold there, which were to many a representation of 'The Great Island'.

I am so proud of the locals (and tourists from all over the world) who chose to rest, eat, and drink for a while, in a space and time where many a story was shared, (not to mention the fun, laughter, and song!)

I'm even proud of the homemade scones I served. And what about the slogan; Fine Tea - Fine Coffee - Fine Art. I made that up, yeah, me!

I'm so proud of the students I taught on the top floor, young and older.

I'm even proud when I made the difficult decision to leave Lower Midleton Street and set up 'The Artist's Cove' 'higher up'.

But when cancer struck in Sept/Oct 2023, everything 'changed'. (That word again.) And it is still changing. 'Acceptance' is the key ingredient to 'change'. Acceptance is like the yeast that helps the present rise into a happy future. Or more important than merely a 'happy future'; acceptance raises each moment and all of its embracing emotions, towards the 'letting go' of that which no longer serves.

Maybe for me, as I let go of the past, and experience the pain of that letting go, I will rise into the present I dreamed of when I arrived in Cobh; a simple existence to just 'be', and just 'paint' without expectation. (Now I can add being an author and musician to my purpose!).

Yet through my past successes, (or simply the desire for success), I got a little lost and fell into its trap. I think I now realise true success is not in the search for it, and success certainly isn't external. It's knowing that what you do matters and has purpose. It's that simple. I once read 'Find out what your purpose is - for yourself and the world - and do it', or words to that effect. (This quote is from memory and probably merged with my realisations.) I have come to realise that true success (inner and outer) follows a purpose. It does not lead. Success is not the driver. She is the passenger. The 'purpose' must have her hands on the steering wheel.

So, I have finally let go of the business dream, the gallery, and the shops, and reignited my teenage dreams of walking in the footsteps of painters who inspired me all those decades ago. From here on, in whatever effort I attempt, success is irrelevant. Success has already been achieved in realising my dream once more.

At age nineteen, I stood in awe in an art gallery in Paris with a lover from Donegal. I was not in awe of him! Yet he was more interested in me, rather than the flora, fauna, and tropical naked ladies that captivated my young imagination.

To this day I have never seen paintings more beautiful. I have never felt the magic that paintings create in the soul of an onlooker, as I did that day. It was at that moment I knew my purpose. For many years after, alcohol played its part in dampening that purpose, yet with almost ten years of sobriety (in March 2025) it is now time I took those extra-large brushes by the hand and use them to apply lashings of acrylic to the canvases I recently purchased in Cork Art Supplies, (eight of them). It's a start.

I will not showcase the results on this page. I have decided to time-lock this website. This website will now represent my first twenty-two years in Cobh, (2002 - 2024). There are of course images here created before 2002, yet as they were added to this site in the early days, they must remain. This post is my goodbye to the old me and hello to the real me.

You are still welcome to contact me here concerning anything, yet this website is now more of a time capsule. I'm not sure yet how I'll promote my new work or even if I want to. In the 1990's there was no such thing as social media. I didn’t even have a phone, let alone a computer. I remember feeling much happier (but especially freer) without either.

So, I'll take it as it comes, just 'be', keep my 'purpose' on the steering wheel, and try my best to not get blown off this new road I am embracing. A direction that was only possible because of 'change', and only possible because I finally let go of all I achieved in the past. Thank you for reading my final post and browsing my ‘history’.

Here's to the 'moment', and may there be many.