Liam Jones

Liam Jones  --   was born in Ballina, Co. Mayo. held his first one-man exhibition in Dublin over 30 years ago - giving up a career with An Garda Síochána to pursue his passion for art.. Coming from Mayo, the wild beauty of his surrounding countryside was a powerful catalyst in moving him into the world of landscape painting.

“Aerach” is a word that could describe his work. There is a wonderful sense of space in these paintings, a tranquillity where nothing is hurried. He moves effortlessly from the small detail, to wide panoramas. In doing so, shows us some iconic images along the Western coastline from Donegal to Kerry, the majority of the images in this collection reflect his motto, “Within the ordinary lies the extraordinary”. These land and seascapes have a timeless quality and are beautifully illuminated by the sun peeking through moving clouds, creating dramatic sky.

“I spent the last few months painting through 2011 into 2012 on the Isle of Doagh, Inishowen, Co.Donegal,  a area of Ireland I  longed to visit and paint.  I  wasn’t disappointed!. 

The continuous roar of the Atlantic Ocean, even on calm day, offers magnificent views straight across Trawbreaga Bay to Malin Head.  Seabirds  abound.  small irregular fields bounded by stone walls, moorlands of heather, gorse and rushes, yellow flags and purple orchids.  Scenes that overwhelmed me and demanded to be painted.  I found a wonderful feeling of space, continually shifting light, where clouds scudd across the landscape,  all these components were an infinite source of ideas for this exhibition.”

“ I wanted to predominantly feature aspects of the sea’s interaction with our landscape.  The tide regularly invades and covers our coast line, lingers a while and withdraws. With each visit it sculpts and shapes our shoreline in a minute, imperceptible way, gradually transforming the contours of our coast - a divine repetition, and good for the soul.

As the sea recedes the fissured rocks coated in ochre and rust-hued weeds with explosions of yellows, beg the artist to paint them.,  I spent  months immersed in the landscape  observing the motion of the sea and its low-tide revelations. I hope I have captured in some small way these scenes on canvas  .I have included in this show  coastal areas of Ireland and  land locked landscapes where light chases shadows to create a continually changing harmonious beauty.

 “No Poet, no Painter can ever fully capture all that is contained in the landscape. In fleeting moments when our pride takes a grip we feel we have it – we’ve got it, but then the landscape merely changes and invites us further in. The landscape surely is a reflection of the divine. It is eternal. As a humble Painter I can only stand in awe, in reverence before it and merely scratch at its surface.”

Liam Jones 2012