Currently viewable at The Blue Seafood & Bistro Restaurant Wicklow Town

oil on linen

59x42cm
At the beginning of March when Ireland was studying the spread of the COVID-19 ( Coronavirus). I was inspired to react to our own internal Ash Tree Disease. We have mature Ash trees on one side of our yard and 200 yr old Oak trees on the other side

We often compare which tree flowers first in late Spring as a guide to the weather... Oak before Ash we are in for a Splash... Ash before Oak we are in for a soak. In the last few years, our Ash trees have struggled. We hoped they were not ill and thought it may be weather change that influenced their health also.

The correlation between the impending pandemic and the Ash Tree Disease influenced this painting.

Chalara or Ash Dieback disease is a disease of ash trees caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. The origins of the disease are as yet not certain but scientists have suggested the disease may have been introduced to Europe from eastern Asia. Ash Dieback is not regulated in any Member State under the EU Plant Health Directive. The first confirmed finding of the disease in Ireland was made on 12th October 2012 at a forestry plantation site in County Leitrim which had been planted in 2009 with trees imported from continental Europe

In March 2013 the Department introduced a Reconstitution Scheme (Chalara Ash Dieback) to restore forests planted under the afforestation scheme which had suffered from or which were associated with plants affected by the disease. To date, i.e. by 31 July 2017, some €3.4 million has been paid out under the Scheme and over 967 hectares of infected and associated ash plantations have been cleared and replanted or are in the process of being replanted with alternative species. These figures are expected to increase as the year progresses as applications for the Scheme from more recently identified forestry plantations affected by the disease are processed by the Department

In May 2013 the Department, in conjunction with Teagasc, organised a total of 22 public information meetings. More than 800 people attended and information was provided on what to look out for and the implications in terms of clearance of a forest plantation. There was a large media pick-up on these events, including print, radio and television. Guidance on the symptoms of Chalara was placed on the Department's website and the GAA featured a full-page awareness advertisement in their All-Ireland hurling final programmes in both 2013 and 2014.

Scientific research on the disease both in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe, with a focus on developing ash tree breeding programmes to develop trees showing strong tolerance to the disease, is a key component in the strategy to combat the disease in the long-term.

I stretch my own canvas using canvas or linen. Usually in multiples for a series of work.
I work with acrylics and oils. When using Acrylic paint I like to mix the pigment with a carrier solution to determine the intensity of the colour. When working with oils I usually work slowly with multiple layers, adding and subtracting elements to the work. A series of work develops around a central theme, working from my sketches and my photograph research.