I work from my studio in Kilcock. It is a small room with shelves all around to put my finished and unfinished work onto. I like to give each work a few days to 'rest' before I completely finalise them and email my clients their portrait scans. On this page, you will find more information on how I work together with some progress photos and videos of my process. I discuss the materials I use and how I go about completing each piece of work. Because I work from photographs, I like to share them here too for comparison. You can subscribe to the blog and receive updates 3 to 4 times a month.
I just love working with old photographs! I enjoy capturing the colour and lighting only achieved with an analogue camera, no digital perfection, just expression. Portraits based on vintage photos have featured in my commissions list, many as gifts to family members. Not only are they very interesting and I…
This is a painting I created back in June this year 2026. It was a commission for a birthday gift for the mum in the portrait. This happy family portrait is a memory of a lovely day climbing the Ticknock Mountain in county Dublin. I was commissioned to paint this…
This commission query arrived in my inbox from a client returning for a second portrait. I drew a pencil drawing of my client’s grandmother Nora in September 2025. Emma, my client, wanted a memory of her grandfather to hang beside the one of her grandmother. She was so happy with…
A portrait commission is a great and unique gift for just about anyone. Valerie, my client, decided on gifting her daughter and husband with a pencil portrait of their two little girls. Cara, the older 6 year old girl, is sitting while holding her baby sister Fia, only 3 months…
Meet Michelle and Tia. I re-interpreted a photograph of these two best friend in graphite pencil on paper. I was contacted by the girl’s aunt a few months ago. She wanted to have a memory of Michelle, who sadly passed away, with her beloved best friend Tia, the black labrador…
Earlier this year, I was contacted by Marnie. She was enquiring about commissioning a portrait painting of her Mum. This was to be a thoughtful birthday gift for her 60th birthday at the end of March. Marnie’s Mum was visiting from Australia and her daughter wanted to give her something…
Julia contacted me a couple of months ago about a custom commissioned portrait for her mother. This gift was to be a very special memory of her uncle Greg, her mother’s brother. A photo of him hung framed in her mother’s kitchen. Over the years, her mother often said she…
I began the year 2026 with a really interesting project: a colourful portrait painting of a couple – I know I created many of these before – but this time was very different. The photo I was given as a reference was taken at a music festival. It was commissioned…
This is a portrait painting of Patrick with his puppy labradoodle pet dog called Blue. I created this painting before Christmas. It was commissioned for the little boy’s parents as a Christmas gift. I painted a few paintings for my client Orlaith, including a painting of her dad Aidan with…
This is a drawing that was commissioned as a Christmas gift for the gentleman in the photo. His wife sadly passed away and their children decided to gift their father a memory of them two outside their home, which they shared for many years. I worked from several reference photographs…