I pause from reading a book, noticing when in the act of reading that all around me the world is stilled. It's a shame to have to pause.

Have a #painting. From a few years back "The Long Walk Again" is not the first time I've painted the iconic Galway scene. And knowing me it's unlikely to be the last. There are other places in the west of Ireland to paint, but something about the shapes and space draw me back here. #art #SpeirGhorm

#art A sketch from a few years ago. "The Deadman's Inn". One day back when the world was closed I cycled up the road here in Dublin west, and sat on the grass in the sun, to sketch one of my local pubs where I've had good times inside. #SpeirGhorm #urbansketching

A #painting from a couple of years ago of the southwest of Ireland. "Sneem II" was started twenty years earlier and worked on every year until I was finally happy that I'd captured my first experience of the County Kerry town. Which was a great one by the way. #art #SpeirGhorm

Have a #painting. "Burren Tree" is from 6 years ago. I painted it because I love stones, let alone fields of stone. And I really like walls. You know where you stand with a wall. Sometimes the dry stone ones fall down a little, but if that gives you a better view of a tree, great. #art #SpeirGhorm

A #painting for a brief distraction. "Dublin, Purple and Orange" I painted because Dublin is home, and what can one say about one's home? I can actually talk a lot, so could wax purple about it all day, but in this instance I decided to simply give you my Dublin - painted in purple. #art #SpeirGhorm

Every direction I look in the world, near and far, is an unrelenting shitshow.

Have a #painting why don't you. "Bantry Brendan" was painted because I like sitting in the west Cork town eating a sandwich as I look up at the sculpture, by Imogen and Ian Stuart, of Brendan the Navigator looking out to the Atlantic - or Bantry Bay at least. #SpeirGhorm #ArtYear

In the lane beside our house is a pile which is like the start of a novel: on top of a spillage of several kilograms of what looks like flour, is up to a dozen broken eggs, a t-shirt, sweatpants, and a pair of socks. I'm trying not to think what happened lest I not like where I end up.

A #painting I did in Ireland's County Tyrone. "Weir at Sion Mills" came after a perfect night in Strabane where the next day I was brought to the attractive village of Sion Mills to see the weir. I did the painting before cycling on to Derry and beyond Ballykelly. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtAdventCalendar

Finally got to reading "Shy" by Max Porter. I loved his previous 3 books so it's a way with words I'm very happy among. Am still thinking about it - in a good way. Suspect I'll read it again even though I'm generally not a re-reader. In other words, I liked it.

Time for an older #painting. "Sheep, Stone Wall I" came out of walking and cycling past so many sheep and liking stopping to look at them. Same for stone walls. This sheep was in Ireland, but it's probably very like sheep in other countries. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtYear

A #painting you might like. "Pier Fishing" came out of all the times I've gone to a pier and some young woman or young man was there before me owning the world and its oceans, and I would quietly watch. While this particular scene was in Antrim it was inspired by many piers. #art #SpeirGhorm #scape

I often get asked about my painting process. There is no one process I use all the time, but about probably 6 different ways I might start a painting, whether in studio or en plein air. Here's one way - this is "Poulnabrone II" in an early stage of progress side-by-side with the complete painting.

From a couple of years back a #painting. "North Mayo Coast" I painted after a trip to Downpatrick Head where I didn't go up Downpatrick Head to enjoy views of the Dún Briste sea stack but instead went the opposite direction along the coast and just stood in the wind looking. #art #SpeirGhorm

A #painting. "Garristown". One cold day I went out at 5am, got two buses, unfolded my bike, cycled it a few km over a hill into very north County Dublin and sat down in this small village. I poured a cup of tea and thought, “I could live here”. Then I painted this as I drank my tea. #art #SpeirGhorm

Have a #painting from a few years ago. The name of this street in Dublin is "Coke Lane", and it's just off Smithfield. That's a fine pub down there but I've always liked the lane in and of itself, so I painted it. #art #SpeirGhorm

Quiet because I was away in the offline world of tea, wine and good company. Travel, especially when on ferry and trains, means I get to read. Time wouldn't let me return slowly, but on the flight home from Liverpool I finished reading The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman. It was very full. Liked it.

A #painting from a few years ago. I painted this version of "Arran Quay" for the same reason I paint all the versions of Arran Quay. Dublin is home. I love it and I love the river #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtYear

A Dublin #painting from way back. "Seven Buildings, Four Stories" was painted out of a love of buildings, the shapes they throw at you, and how they talk to a street. #art #SpeirGhorm

A #painting I finished and sold earlier this year. "Pen Corner" is a mixed media painting that came out of loving a building in Dublin that everybody loved, just not enough. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtAdventCalendar

Is the sun supposed to come up today?

Have yerselves a #painting. "Martello Tower, Ireland's Eye" is from the east coast of #Ireland - specifically the small island off the north coast of Howth Head in County Dublin. It's not the only one of Dublin's many Martello towers I've painted, and I imagine it won't be the last. #art #SpeirGhorm

Anyway, here's a #painting. From the southwest of Ireland "Clonakilty, Pearse Street" came out of visits to west Cork where I enjoyed cycling and walking from one end of the town to the other. And back again. And again. And stopping for the odd rest. That sort of thing. #art #SpeirGhorm

Heard someone say the orange gobshite was only interested in minerals. If I thought that was true I'd say give him ours, but then we finished ours over the Christmas.

Time to share a #painting from a couple of years ago. "Bovine II" came out of loving the company some shaggy bullocks gave me once upon a time in the west of Ireland. #art #speirghorm

First look at the internet every morning is opening the curtains I dread seeing behind.

A #painting from a few years ago. "Listowel" is a County Kerry town I've done a few paintings of, but this particular painting came out of a time I was cycling in north Kerry and having the time of my life. Mind you in fairness whenever I'm in north Kerry I have the time of my life. #art #SpeirGhorm

A #painting from a couple of years ago of the southwest of Ireland. "Sneem II" was started twenty years earlier and worked on every year until I was finally happy that I'd captured my first experience of the County Kerry town. Which was a great one by the way. #art #SpeirGhorm

Have a #painting. "The Long Walk II" My Galway city painting that I'll never tired of telling people it prompted a friend's young son to ask why there were giraffes walking down the street, and ever since that's all any of us can see. It hangs in his home. He's a man now. #art #JanuArty #SpeirGhorm

A #painting called "Seated Men" which was the first I did in a series of paintings of men in conversation. It was subsequently used as the cover for a book of Irish short stories published for the benefit of the Haiti earthquake relief. #art #SpeirGhorm

Here, have a #painting. "Savage Rowan" came out of a challenge from an artist friend of mine where we both painted the same scene. This was mine and it eventually went to a good home in Galway. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtYear

An older #painting now. "Cave Canem I" Because I love dogs, and squares, and lines, and I'd been to Pompeii, I painted this a long time ago and keep it for myself - upstairs in a folder somewhere I think. #art #SpeirGhorm

A #painting. "Phoenix Park Deer" I painted because one of the places I've walked most in life is across the centre of the Fifteen Acres in the Phoenix Park. This was on the go for almost 10 years before I was happy with it it - and then I was very happy with it. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtAdventCalendar

A Dublin #painting from a ways back. "Liffey, Six Landmarks" came out of a time where I would casually cycle into town and stand on bridges for ages looking down the river. Time, it can be precious. #SpeirGhorm #art

Time for a #painting. "Stone Walls, No Sheep III" was the 3rd in a series of 4 paintings that came out of loving landscapes especially those with stone walls and those with sheep but accepting that sometimes the sheep just aren't there. #art #Speirghorm #ArtAdventCalendar

My #painting "Waterford I" came out of all kinds of times in the south of Ireland, all of them good and some that hadn't happened yet. I should have more such times. #art #SpeirGhorm #Januarty #sky

I think looking at an Irish #painting might do no harm. "Inchydoney Sunset" was painted after several trips to west Cork by Clonakilty where I would invariably cycle up and down the bay carrying on my bicycle my paints, a case of beer, and a whole load of hopes and dreams. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtYear

#art A sketch from a few years ago. "The Deadman's Inn". One day back when the world was closed I cycled up the road here in Dublin west, and sat on the grass in the sun, to sketch one of my local pubs where I've had good times inside. #SpeirGhorm #urbansketching

A #painting from a few years ago. "Listowel" is a County Kerry town I've done a few paintings of, but this particular painting came out of a time I was cycling in north Kerry and having the time of my life. Mind you in fairness whenever I'm in north Kerry I have the time of my life. #art #SpeirGhorm

A west of Ireland #painting to look at. "Kilkee Cliffs" of County Clare was one I painted during an exhausting 24-hour live stream where I painted dozens of paintings. I still dream of doing such 24-hour painting events again. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtAdventCalendar

A #painting from the south of Ireland. "Cobh III" was a commission some years back where I drew on my visits to the Cork harbour town, and sent friends on photo missions, but I also did that imaginary flying thing to give me the view I wanted to show. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtAdventCalendar

A #painting for youse to have a goo at. "Poulnabrone I". Because I like big stones. This was the first time I painted Ireland's iconic portal tomb in County Clare's Burren. It used to hang in the US and in Australia but now hangs in a good home in County Derry. #art #StandingStoneSunday #SpeirGhorm

Today is one of those good days. Because I get to go to my To-Be-Read piles and choose a book having yesterday finished the Nigerian novel "Jagua Nana" by Cyprian Ekwensi. The title character was magnificent and I was sad to leave her world.

Here, a #painting to look at. "Lilac Sheep" I painted because, well I like sheep. And their shapes. And for a wonderful moment in my life I lived among them. This went to a good home many years ago. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtAdventCalendar

Have a #painting. "The Long Walk II" My Galway city painting that I'll never tired of telling people it prompted a friend's young son to ask why there were giraffes walking down the street, and ever since that's all any of us can see. It hangs in his home. He's a man now. #art #JanuArty #SpeirGhorm

A #painting so. "Swallows, Wall" came out a time when I sat in front of a wall in Waterford painting it while the swallows swirled and swooped around me, then I got on my bicycle and before sunset cycled along the Copper Coast. Good times. I like walls. And birds. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtAdventCalendar

A #painting from Ireland's west. "Lahinch" came out of trips to the County Clare coast where I'd enjoy, well I'm a stereotype so it would be a feed of pints followed by a feed of chips, and then there's the beach. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtAdventCalendar

Another west of Ireland #painting. "Connemara Cottage" came from a day cycling in circles in north Connemara up and down hills and onto a beach, looking for roads that didn't exist while making memories that lasted forever. And I kept coming back to this scene. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtAdventCalendar

An older #painting. "Elevator Island" is another painting based on a scene from my cycle across America. This is one I saw in Kansas. And Nebraska. And the Oklahoma panhandle. And the Texas panhandle. And I loved it every time. #art #SpeirGhorm