The mechanics of making art

SEEN THE LIGHT?Patsy Farrell enjoys the challenge of capturing  changing light that painting outdoors presents. He is pictured here with one of the paintings in his Westport exhibition.

Galway-city-based artist, Patsy Farrell, who has spent his entire adult life painting outdoors in all parts of Galway and Mayo, is currently exhibiting his latest collection of paintings in Westport’s Clew Bay Hotel. The official opening was be performed by Noelle Angley of the En Plein Eire movement, a national organisation that encourages to get together and paint primarily outdoors, ‘en plein air’.
A mechanic by trade, Farrell and his brother, Gay, run a garage in Galway city. The brothers also sculpt using metal welding and have created a seven-foot-high sculpture of Jack Charlton made out of disused oil drums on a platform in the garage –  a piece that has unsurprisingly proved a real conversation stopper.
Farrell mainly uses pastels and watercolours. “I have to say that I’m really looking forward to this exhibition in Westport. It’s a fantastic town, and the people there are so receptive to other artists from different places … I think you can really see the different influences at work in the community when you visit the town. It’s certainly one of the most welcoming places that I’ve ever visited,” he said.
Farrell is passionate about the Plein Eire movement, and he has already experienced the joys of painting in and around Westport.
“When you are painting outside the light is so much better, and the ability to capture the scene as the light changes is a challenge in itself. I saw first hand what Westport has to offer when a number of artists attached to the Plein Eire movement spent a weekend in the town last Autumn simply painting what we saw in front of us.
“It was a great experience and it gave me the idea of holding my own exhibition in the town at some point,” he said.
Farrell is keen to mention the role played by Noelle Angley from Plein Eire. “Noelle lives in Westport, and she has been a great source of encouragement. It was because of her that I was part of the group that was painting in the town last year and now it’s great to be able to return again so quickly with a new exhibition that Noelle kindly agreed to officially open,” said Patsy.
The last time that Farrell held a solo show, it was in the Doorway Gallery in Dublin in 2013, and it was very successful. “I’m hoping that Westport will be as successful, and it’s something that I am very excited about. I think too it’s important that visiting artists such as myself try to give something back to the community that they are exhibiting in, and with that in mind I have decided to donate 5 percent of all sales to the Cystic Fibrosis Association in Mayo. The association does wonderful work and it is deserving of any support that it can receive,” he said.

Patsy Farrell’s exhibition is on show in the Clew Bay Hotel, James Street, Westport, for the month of March.