The studio
EL
Co. Galway, Ireland
EL is a painter working out of a converted stone outbuilding on the Galway coast.
The work begins outdoors, in small oil studies made in whatever the day is doing, and is finished slowly in the studio over weeks — layer over layer, scraped back, built again, until the paint holds the same weight the air had.
Every piece on this site is an original. There are no prints and no editions: one painting, one owner, signed and dated on the reverse.
Statement
I am interested in the moment a landscape stops being a view and becomes a weather system you are standing inside of.
Colour does most of that work. A horizon can be three greys and a single warm mark and still feel like a specific afternoon in a specific place. I spend most of my time on that single warm mark.
How a piece is made
01
Outside
A small oil study made on the spot, in one sitting, in whatever the weather is doing. Nothing is corrected later.
02
Ground
Linen is stretched and sized in the studio, then given four or five thin grounds so the surface has some tooth to hold the wax.
03
Layers
Oil and cold wax, built up and scraped back over several weeks. Most of what goes on comes off again — what stays is the record of that.
04
Rest
The piece is turned to the wall for a fortnight. Whatever still looks wrong after that gets another pass. Then it is signed on the reverse.
Exhibitions & press
Solo exhibitions
Group exhibitions
Awards
Press