Slievemore Achill – Fergal Flanagan
Some mountains can dominate a landscape and captivate painters. Mont Sainte Victoire is one. Slievemore on Achill is another.
Fergal Flanagan has returned there to paint, year after year, often with his plein air students. This latest painting captures the scene in early Autumn, while the heather still bloomed, but other colours were fading. The mountain itself was sharply defined against the mottled sky. At other times of year, dense clouds can shroud the slopes, making them invisible.
Mountains are vast and mysterious. The inclusion of the houses and the pattern of fields leading our eye into the distance, gives the painting a sense of human scale.