About the artist

Bio

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Kieran's art journey began with a love of ornithology and drawing birds. His first mentor and teacher was Sister Maureen McMahon, founder of the High Loft painting group. Kieran went on to attend Crawford College of Art and Design graduating with a BA in Fine Art Painting.

Kieran has enjoyed a successful career at the highest level of commercial design, web development and international management leadership. Fine art has always been his greatest love and Kieran has decided to concentrate on these latest collections and send them out to the world.

Painting the landscape outside (en plein air) is central to Kieran's current practice, capturing in real time the light and feeling of places that inspire him.

Kieran's considerable portfolio extends to portraits, digital creations, and more conceptual studio pieces influenced by fiction and authors that resonate with the artist. Plein air work will continue to inform the larger and more time intensive studio pieces.

Artist Statement

I have been compelled to draw and paint from an early age, developing an early interest in art that depicted the natural world, with Archibald Thorburn’s bird paintings being a huge influence. The need to draw, paint and make work has remained a core part of my life. I’ve always favoured realism influenced by post impressionism, symbolism and expressionism.

There are a number of themes that inspire my work and are never far below the surface. I have a deep love of nature and landscape. I try to combine this with my love of books, science and history. These all play a role in my work. I first learned to paint using oils and now use acrylics. My process involves sketching when I read, this is an important part of my creative process and becomes part of what I will bring into a piece alongside landscape and nature.

When I’m making plein-air paintings I’m trying to express what I’m seeing and feeling, as an avid photographer I’m interested in the physical sensation of a place that is different from a photo and that’s what I’m trying to capture. I paint in Dublin and Wicklow mainly, especially the Wicklow Mountains National Park.

For my larger studio based pieces I try to set scenes that are open to storytelling in the viewer’s mind, I don’t want to explicitly tell a story but rather make suggestions for the viewer. I am always drawn to landscapes that have a sense of time, I can feel closer in these places to those I have lost in my life, especially my father who instilled this deep connection with nature in me.