St. Nicholas' Church, Jerpoint Park, Kilkenny Drawing

In the mid - eighties my father gave me a book on Woodwork, at the time I was working as a Shop Fitter in Switzers Department Store in Dublin and he no doubt though that this book would come in useful in my job. Little did he or I realise that it would be the catalyst that would take me in a very different path. It was the section on Woodturning that inspired me to turn my first tiny bud vase out of a piece of 'pine' on a drill. I have been woodturning ever since. I started turning on a full-time basis from the end of the 'eighties' and up until about 2003 I turned pretty much 7 days a week, it was probably a bit of an obsession. Demand for my work was high and my passion to make it was equally high. I will admit to being a perfectionist and I set very high standards and goals for myself. In September 2003 my wife and I moved to Kilkenny where I took a year and a half out to build our new home. When I got back to my turning in 2005 the economy was changing and recurring allergies to dust, slowed my output. The passion is still there and I am still working with wood Inspiration: The artwork of Ancient civilizations have always been a fascination of mine, especially Celtic artwork. I regularly visit the Museums in Dublin and am constantly trawling through the various books that I have collected over the years. A detail on a Celtic Cloak Pin or some aspect of a Jim Fitzpatrick painting will find itself translated into a detail on one of my Torc's or vessels. Some of my ebonised boxes were inspired by a film I saw based around the Mongol Empire! I always have a sketch book to hand for that moment when the muses strike. For numerous reasons mainly the many changes to our world since 2019 I have drifted away from woodturning and have taken up drawing again, which is something that I haven't done in many years, except for sketching ideas for my various vessels and boxes over the years. Drawing was my first passion as a teenager and it is with trepidation that I take up the pencil again. My chosen medium of drawing in graphite & charcoal.