War Memorial Gardens

If I'd known there was a car park, I would have driven to the War Memorial Gardens, rather than take two Luases and walk for 20 minutes. Thankfully I was offered a lift part of the way back!

Now I've been in Dublin nearly 33 years. I know a lot of locations that even locals never visit. But I had never been to the War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge. I still had this idea that it was an abandoned place full of junkies and rough sleepers. Well, it's changed a lot since those days. It's a beautiful spot that the apartment dwellers nearby are happy to visit on a sunny day, I'd say. Pity we haven't had more of those lately! But the sun was shining on the day I was there and I focused on the flowers, experimenting with direct watercolour, not necessarily very successfully as I struggle between not enough darks and too much dark. But every day is a lesson!

This was the first version of the roses - they were actually quite pale, but the greens around them didn't look right, so I decided to paint a second layer of greens mostly to accentuate the negative shapes. And then I couldn't resist making the pinks stronger. I do love strong colours!

This was hard work - I feel I was successful enough with negative painting around the white flowers, but I didn't manage to give the leaves distinct shapes. Must look in more detail at how other artists do this!!

And of course, every day is a Bloomsday!

'O let him! His life isn’t such a bed of roses.'

'For a woman who was no better than she should be, Helen, the runaway wife of Menelaus, ten years the Greeks made war on Troy.'