Acrylic on canvas, 76 × 61 cm. Open edition print available now.
“Léas mheangadh na gréine” is an Irish phrase, loosely translated as “a ray of the sun’s smile.”
The inspiration came from walking past the Plimsoll pub in North London. If you know it, you’ll recognise how, on a sunny day, its patrons sit and stand on the street outside. It is lucky enough to catch the evening sunlight, and the scene is one of pure joy.
Last spring, on the first sunny day of the season, I was sitting outside the pub and felt the warm sun hit my skin for what felt like the first time in years. The happiness it brought was something I couldn’t describe. Then, reading the works of the late Manchán Magan, I came to understand the power of the Irish language in describing feelings tied to the natural world around us. Finally I could put words to what I was feeling, all the more special being my native language.
So the work tries to capture it all: the sun, the happiness, the patrons of the Plimsoll pub, and the beginning of spring.