I painted 'Shifting' after a trip back to Northern Ireland where we spent time around the coast near Portaferry. I'm from County Armagh and live in England now, however the subject of the majority of my work is the landscape in Ireland.
I paint in oils and work expressively, trying to capture something of the feelings I have being 'home'. I try to paint intuitively, often scraping back and reworking a painting until it feels right. I'm not concerned with painting a replica of the landscape, I have to bring some of myself to the work. Being in the Irish landscape is a particular sensory experience I don't feel anywhere else, it relates to the idea of the 'sublime'. I feel rooted within it, yet always knowing I have to leave, creating an urgency record, to absorb as much as I can before it is lost to me again. The process of painting is about holding on.
Donalda O'Neill