Trilogy 1

 

One day, as I was working on our recently-featured work, the Book of Kells-style circular mural by Breffni Carroll, I was approached by Christopher Dunne, the son of Kit Dunne, the local harbour pilot and boat owner.

Christopher asked me if I could paint his father's two boats, the 'Lisin 1' and the 'Castle Maiden' to mark his 50th birthday. I readily agreed to Christopher's request. Kit runs the Wicklow Boathire Company for which he uses his boats for local coastal tours and fishermen expeditions.

As the two vessels shared a similar design, I did not want to paint them in the same style of artwork that I had used previously. Also, while painting Breffni's mural, I had the idea to paint a trilogy of boats above this circular mural. And so, I decided to add a third boat, the AMS Panther which is based in Wicklow harbour. It is owned by the Alpha Marine Company and managed locally by Simon Greenwood.

The 'Trilogy 1' mural marked a signicant development in my  painting since it represented the first time I introduced perspective to my art. On viewing the mural, the 'Lisin 1' comes at an an angle at the left-hand side, while the 'Castle Maiden' comes at a different angle at the right-hand side. Between Kit's two boats, the 'AMS Panther' comes at the viewer straight on. Thereby, the Trilogy 1 creates an overall impression of dynamic movement in which the three vessels appear to be in a shared manoeuvre.

The 'Panther' was built in 2011 by the Savehaven Marine Company in Cork. She is a 17-metre high-speed and multi-purpose catamaran-type vessel. She is designed to transfer crew and equipment to off-shore work platforms or to wind turbines. To this end, she is fitted out with a good fendering system.

She is also used for survey work, diving maintenance and inspection work. Powered by water jet propellers similar to those used on lifeboats, the 'Panther' can travel up to a speed of 25 to 30 knots.

My Trilogy 1 was to inspire my two later Trilogy murals along the East Pier wall: the 'Trilogy 2' featuring lifeboats; and the 'Trilogy 3' featuring AMS ships.

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