Neil's Pastel classes

Ezra – pastel

By Neil Condron

Ezra by Neil Condron. Pastel (predominantly pan pastel) 60x40cm on foam board.

If you are interested in coming to my pastel class or workshops in the Schoolhouse for Art the details of upcoming courses are on the website http://www.schoolhouseforart.com

Schoolhouse for Art

Wood Sculpture by Conleth Gent

My aspiration is to establish Enniskerry, County Wicklow a premier ‘Art Destination‘ with the Schoolhouse for Art at its core.
My objective is to create a viable business that will generate sufficient income to make this project sustainable.

In addition to providing excellence in art schooling, and a unique indoor and outdoor venue for art related events, the ‘Schoolhouse for Art’ concept has a strong social and community awareness. It will endeavour to support practicing artists, help emerging artists and encourage aspiring artists (of all ages and abilities). It will engage with, and support the local community and through ‘practical demonstration’ promote County Wicklow and in particular Enniskerry as the ideal ‘art destination’.

The market for professional artists is seriously depleted, and as a result ‘art classes’ have become a vital supplement to their income enabling them to continue with their art endeavours.  The ‘Schoolhouse for Art’ is committed to supporting our professional artists. Our classes and workshops will hopefully provide that necessary income.

In addition to supporting ‘professional artists’ and providing ‘aspiring artists’ invaluable training, the ‘Schoolhouse for Art’ classes and workshops can also provide the perfect antidote for stress and damaged self-esteem. Having personally experienced escapism and the self-healing benefits from totally immersing my mind in my paintings, I have a personal goal to encourage more men to take art classes and unearth their hidden skills and talents – or to simply escape from a harsh reality for a couple of hours.

“The work of creating art distracts the mind and fuels the imagination,
The created work of art rekindles pride and restores self-belief”.

Since early 2013 this enterprise has been a ‘solo mission’, my personal “on with the Adventure!” response to the economic upheaval we collectively are trying to deal with.  I have been supported by good friends, good wishes and good luck. Without exception everyone I have met believes the ‘Schoolhouse for Art’ is a perfect fit for the former Powerscourt National School and a great addition to Enniskerry village. I hope to prove them right. Currently 16 artists (and growing) covering a diverse range of disciplines are giving, or are about to give classes/workshops – already dozens of ‘students’ have benefited from attending.

For this concept to excel after its initial launch it will need to move from the ‘I’ to the ‘we’ on the basis that there is only so much ‘I’ can do (and I miss my brushes!). In the meantime the ‘I’ could do with ‘you’ – if you like what I’m doing you can support me and my extraordinary teachers by attending our art classes and workshops.

Hopefully we’ll meet in the Schoolhouse for Art soon.

Neil.

‘Upon Small Shoulders’ raises €19,500 for ‘Penny Dinners’

Sinéad O’Connor raised a staggering €34,000 for the charity ‘Penny Dinners‘ at Whyte’s art auction in the RDS last night (see her post).

Sinead’s put two of her paintings up for auction; a portrait of Sinéad as a child by Thomas Ryan and my ‘upon small shoulders’, they were lots 150 and 151, so it was a nerve-racking wait watching each of the preceding lots go under the hammer. Eventually ‘lot 500’ her portrait, was presented and bidding shot from the hundreds to thousands and was eventually sold for a magnificent €8,500 (I had the absolute pleasure of meeting the buyer after the event). Next up was ‘lot 151’ ‘upon small shoulders’ I could hardly breathe – then the biding took off eventually ending at an incredible €19,500 I was stunned. I’m hopeful to discover who the bidder was – I’d love to know where my painting’s new home will be. Sinead was understandably thrilled with the results and very generous with her praise for my painting.

A huge thanks needs to be given to Sinéad O’Connor for her unceasing selfless generosity, she is a most wonderful woman. She could have left her paintings hanging on her wall instead she decided to auction them to raise money for ‘Penny Dinners’.

Thanks to the new owner of ‘upon small shoulders’ for your benevolence and for liking my painting, I hope it will please the eye for many years. And congratulations to ‘Penny Dinners’ and the people under their care who are the deserving recipients of this wonderful success.

Thank you Sinéad, I’m indebted to you for your appreciation of my work and for giving ‘upon small shoulders’ and me a global audience. I’m very proud to know you.

N.

upon small shoulders

‘Upon Small Shoulders’ goes under the hammer tonight….

Thomas Ryan’s portrait of Sinéad O’Connor as a child  and ‘Upon Small Shoulders’ go under the hammer at Whyte’s auction tonight. The Auction starts at 6pm and can be followed live online http://www.whytes.ie/ (click on to ‘live bidding’ after 6pm).

Lets hope Sinéad’s chosen charity ‘Penny Dinners’ does really well.

Sinéad is selling ‘upon small shoulders’ for charity

My painting ‘upon small shoulders‘ is in Whyte’s forthcoming auction (see catalogue page 101).

The extremely wonderful and benevolent Sinéad O’Connor is selling two of her paintings to raise much-needed funds for ‘The Penny Dinners’ an long established Irish charity.
In case you missed one of my countless references to her album over the past year – ‘upon small shoulders’ was used as the cover of Sinéad’s latest album ‘How about I be me (and you be you)?’.
I’m so proud to be included among some of Ireland’s great artists and humbled to be facing Thomas Ryan’s portrait of Sinéad.

I hope it sells well for ‘The Penny Dinners’.

N.

Two sheep and the Sugarloaf

‘As I venture into the Wicklow hills the rugged landscape takes on subtle tones and hues as the Irish skyscape constantly changes its mind. And as I watch the evolving panorama two sheep amble by, unimpressed, breaking then remaking my view’.

This is a recent painting of mine ‘two sheep and the Sugarloaf’ (oil on canvas 90x70cm). I’m fortunate to be surrounded by the beautiful landscape of County Wicklow with the Sugarloaf as a backdrop. The ‘Sugarloaf’ is really only a hill as it’s only 501 metres (1,644 ft) high, however its isolation from other hills, steep slopes and volcanic appearance makes it appear much taller than it is.

I hope you enjoy my painting and that someday you’ll have the opportunity to also enjoy the real Wicklow landscape if you haven’t already had that pleasure.

N.

Two sheep and the Sugarloaf

Thanks everyone….especially Sineád

Thanks everyone for all the kind words about my painting ‘upon small shoulders‘ and the ‘fame’ status it’s achieving. At last after what seemed like an eternity Sineád O' Connor‘s album ‘How about I be me (and you be you?)‘ is on the shelves and getting incredible reviews. I still can’t get over seeing my work spread all over the globe albeit on the back of Sineád’s success.

When she initially approached me I was more impressed that ‘Sineád O’Connor’ was buying my painting than the exposure I’d get being associated with her album. She seemed demure and totally ordinary when I met her first, I was expecting a bit of a ‘diva’ and was blindsided by how totally unaffected she was.
Typically my mouth detached from my brain and I went into verbal autopilot. Herself and her lovely daughter Roisin were examining the painting while I was trying to act unfazed and appear like a self-confident artist – I failed on both counts! Don’t you wish you could reshoot those awkward moments. 
Over the past six months since we first met I’ve had occasional bursts of communication with Sineád, I’ve also watched her highs and desperate lows and worried about her ability to cope with the pressure that she was under.

I saw Sineád perform in the Olympia in Dublin with my daughter Lana (Roisin was one of the backing vocalists) her concert was both emotional and powerful, we were totally blown away. I knew then that her album…ouralbum…would be huge….thanks Sineád, love you.

did I happen to mention…….

OK form an orderly queue…..IT’S IN YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE…..!!!!

I’ve been waiting to have this in my hands for months…it’s been worth the wait!

In case you missed one of my many ego stroking posts here or on Facebook (where have you been for the last few months?) – the cover painting of Sinéad’s CD is ‘upon small shoulders’ by yours truly [:)]
Do I have limited edition prints did I hear you say……well as it happens…I do!

Scouts honor, ‘bragging rights’ will be wound down – eventually!

In the bloginning…

the artist and the apple - both homegrown

Apologies for the title – couldn’t resist it, anyhow it probably acts as a warning – ‘toe curling cheesy content ahead’! Welcome to my very first post on my very first blog. The reality at this point is that ‘you’ are probably one of a very small minority, possibly just you in fact, which in a way makes this ‘blogging business’ a little more intimate and less intimidating. I contemplated getting ‘blogging’ tips, terms, to-dos and definitely not to-dos, however because that would definitely screw up my brain I decided ‘to hell with it’ I’ll just go for it. I’ve no mission to save the world – not at this stage anyway and as I’m not extreme politically, morally, or any other type of ‘ally’ I don’t have anything too serious to impart.

I suppose the reason we’re having this one sided conversation results from external pressure from enthusiastic supporters of my ‘art’ who strongly advised that I needed to ‘up the ante’ and raise my profile by facebooking, blogging and tweeting (think I’ll skip the tweeting)….so here we are!

Apologies in advance for typos, dodgy grammer and the occasional lack of concentration. I’ll blame the combination of a Christian Brother education (perhaps more on that later) and the aging process (accelerated by a fondness for a glass of wine or two!). I’d also like to acknowledge my assistant ‘auto spellcheck’ for its ongoing support, it’s incredible how spellcheck still ‘gives a damn’ I’m constantly waiting for a message to appear saying “How many times do I have to spell this?“. That coupled with a retarded three finger typing technique makes blogging less than fluid.

I also suppose in this litigious era I should also warn of occasional ‘nudity’ – no need for excited anticipation though, I’m an artist not a sex fiend…well most of the time! I’m also prone to the occasional outburst of profanity. Does that mean that if you are under 18 you should go away…? Probably.

I decided on Februrary the 1st an my inaugural blog for two reasons – I’ll be 56 on the 13th (that statement feels surreal – tempus fugit!) a good time for something new to do, but more importantly Sinéad O’Connor’s new album ‘How about I be me (and you be you?)‘ is being released at the end of the month. As well as the fact that it’s great that this long awaited album is about to be launched, more importantly (for me) it’s going to propel me into fame and fortune – oh ye of little faith!! My claim to fame, or more accurately, my claim to Ms. O’Connor’s album is the fact that my painting ‘upon small shoulders‘ is featured on the album cover.

As I’m sitting here in my studio doing my three finger typing I’ve got a warm, nervous churning in my stomach, and a self-satisfied, almost smug ‘well aren’t I the dogs bollix?’ grin on my face…reminiscent of my ‘expectant father’ days….nervous but nice…Sinéad’s album, my art…can’t wait!

That’s enough for day 1 – my canvas is calling!

Sinéad O'Connors latest album.