Waterlilies

'Waterlilies'  Oil on Board  Patricia Kavanagh

"If you have forgotten waterlilies floating
On a dark lake among mountains in the afternoon shade,
If you have forgotten their wet sleepy fragrance,
Then you can return and not be afraid.

But if you remember, then turn away forever
To the plains and the prairies where pools are far apart,
There you will not come at dusk on closing waterlilies
And the shadow of mountains will not fall on your heart.

by Sarah Teasdale

Blackrock, Salthill, Galway

'Blackrock, Salthill, Galway'  Oil on Canvas  Patricia Kavanagh

This painting is dear to my heart because I grew up just a short walk from here.  We played here as children every day during summer holidays.  My father, who spent his youth diving and swimming here was presented with an award by the Carnegie Trust for saving human life on 29th September 1942.  His name appears in the 'Book of Heros' in the Carnegie Trust Museum.

The painting was sold to a woman whose father had recently passed away.  This was his favourite place in the world.  She used the image of this painting on his memorial card and she included these beautiful words: 

"The blessings of a poor old man

Be with you night and day

The blessings of a poor old man 

Whose heart will soon be clay

Tis all the heaven I ask of God

Upon my dying day

My soul to soar, forevermore

Above you Galway Bay"

Burren in Bloom

'Burren in Bloom'  Oil on Canvas  Patricia Kavanagh

I was invited to exhibit in the 'Burren in Bloom' exhibition in the Russell Gallery in May 2012.  The exhibition is one of the events held as part of the festival of the same name.  I was honoured when the Gallery chose this painting to promote the exhibition!

'Mullaghmore, The Burren, Co Clare'  Oil On Canvas  Patricia Kavanagh

'Lough Murri, Flaggy Shore, The Burren, Co Clare'  Oil on Canvas  Patricia Kavanagh

Dharavi

'Bright Colours of Dharavi'  Acrylic on Board  Patricia Kavanagh

'Festival Time'  Acrylic on Board  Patricia Kavanagh

"Let us rejoice that we are poor

And have no gold to keep;

We do not need to bar the door

Ere we can go to sleep".

                                    -Robert Leighton

I painted these after reading an article in National Geographic on Dharavi Slums in Mumbai.  They are some of my few acrylic paintings.  Somehow I think acrylic worked better for these paintings than oils.