Padraig thank you for agreeing to be part of my ‘In Conversation with’ series, where I’m
interviewing a range of people who are ‘living their passions.’

You are a well-known artist specialising in landscape painting, were you always interested in
art and painting, how did it all start?

Actually, I came pretty late to art and painting. As a child I used to love painting, I went to a
local art class in Dun Laoghaire where I grew up when I was around eight or nine but I
remember getting little or no encouragement from the teacher, being passed over when the
praise was being handed out – and so that didn’t last too long! I also had a school friend at the
time who was gifted at drawing and made my attempts look pretty basic. Neither experience
did my confidence any good but I kept doodling away on my own. When I went to
secondary school I took up music, there was no option to study art, and music became my
first real passion. That continued into college where I took music as part of an Arts degree.
Other than some sketching I had very little involvement or even interest in art.
That changed in the late 1990s when I started to develop an interest in contemporary Irsh art.
I was working in the software localisation industry at the time and started to collect some
work by living artists such as James English and Brian Smyth. But it was after I picked up a
piece by French artist Claude Idlas that I started to realise I wanted to paint myself. There
was a simplicity and boldness about her painting that I just loved, and of course thought, I
can do that! So I started to teach myself to paint at the weekends. I would take trips into the
national gallery in Dublin, or some of the commercial galleries in the city, or look the art
showing on the railings of Stephen’s Green in order to get some inspiration and ideas. Then
I’d go home, set up, open a bottle of wine and spend the rest of the weekend painting! And it
has just grown from there.

You are living many artists’ dream, living on Achill Island, painting, exhibiting, running
workshops, tell me more about your career as an artist.

Yes, it’s amazing how life turns out. This was never part of the plan when I was day-
dreaming at the back of the class in school! But from the moment I sold my first painting I
knew this was the only thing I wanted to do. It was the first time I had real belief in myself
and what I was capable of, and that has only got stronger since then. It took me forty years to
get to that point, but all of the experience I gained during that time is what has allowed me to
turn what started as a hobby into my livelihood.
From the outset I decided to go directly to the general public when I started to show my
work. Before I started painting I used to visit Art Ireland, an annual art fair that was held in
the RDS. I was always taken by the sheer variety of work that was on display there each year,
some of which was great, some of it I thought – ‘I can do better than that!’

And so I decided to put together some pieces and show them in public. I started by taking a pitch on Stephen’s
Green, showing on the railings. That went well, I sold some paintings, got great feedback. So
I did another weekend that same year on the railings, and that went well. After that I decided
to take the money I had made from the sales over the two weekends and put it towards taking
a stand at the Art Ireland fair that year. That was 2004 and the art fair has remained oneof the
key weekends in my calendar each year. Art Ireland has now gone but it has been replaced by
Art Source, which is also held in the RDS.

The Art Fair gave me a chance to show my work to a large audience of art lovers and buyers,
as well as galleries. Over the years I have built up a steady following of collectors and I my
work is now represented in eight galleries in Ireland, all which approached me at the Art Fair.
The Doorway Gallery in Dublin is my main representative in Ireland and they host a solo
exhibition of mine every two years. For the past two years they have been exhibiting my
work at the Affordable Art Fairs in London, which has opened the doors to new markets and
opportunities.

Since 2010 I have also been exhibiting at the Wexford Opera FRINGE festival and for the
past two years I started exhibiting at the National Craft Fair. I am a firm believer that in
order to make a living as an artist you have to run two strategies in parallel - exhibiting with
galleries and showing directly at some of the art fairs. Each of the big fairs that I exhibit at
have their own core following, so you are getting the opportunity to exhibit to a new market
each time, while the galleries will also have their own core following and client list.

I have been running a series of summer painting workshops on Achill Island for the last four
years. It is something I was slow to do as I am a self-taught painter but I was gently coaxed
into doing it by the many requests and warm feedback I was getting at the art fairs! They run
from May through August and attract a great mix of painting enthusiasts from all over,
including the US, Canada, France, Germany and the UK, as well as Ireland of course.

The final piece of the jigsaw is my website, which pulls everything together, allows people to
see my work, get information on the workshops and get in touch with me directly. It’s
impossible to over emphasise the importance of having a good website when you are
effectively running a small business.

Was there one moment when you decided ‘right I’m giving this a go, I’m going to be a full
artist?’ What was that like?

From the moment I sold my first painting – to a total stranger, not a family member or a
friend – I knew that I wanted to make my living as an artist. The knowledge that I had the
ability to create something that other people not only enjoyed but were willing to invest in
was just incredible. It was a ‘eureka’ moment and it gave me a self belief that I never really
had before. So from that moment I began planning how I would develop my career as an
artist to the point that I could take it full time.
Over the next two years I exhibited at the Art Ireland fairs, started to show my work in
galleries and started to build my own client list. After two years I was able to put together a
business plan, with projected cashflows based on the real data I had built up from the
exhibitions and sales through the galleries that I had made. I was in a position to say, ‘well if
I can produce this amount of work and make this amount of income from it on a part-time
basis, what would happen if I went full time, produced more work and took on some more
galleries’. As it was I was turning down offers to get my work into more galleries, and at the
time there were other art fairs that I could exhibit at, but I just hadn’t the time to create the
work. So at the end of 2006, after going through the business plan past by wife, I made the
move and became a fulltime artist.

I’m afraid it’s not the ‘drop everything and follow your passion’ story! Business plans and
cashflows don’t usually feature in those, but I wanted this to work and I wanted to be as sure
as I could that it had a chance of succeeding.
At the time I was working as a manager in a software development company but I had lost all
interest in it, and had grown to resent it. I had grown tired of it all and here I was in someone
else’s dream job, but it wasn’t mine! So when I finished in software development and became
a full time artist, the timing was just right. And it was an incredible feeling, because I really
believed I could make it work. But it also felt like I was walking on eggshells for the first
couple of months, it was almost surreal.

Why did you decide to specialise in landscape painting, or was it just something that
evolved?

That is something that has just evolved. At the start I tried copying paintings I liked, and
painters whose work I like and these happened to be all landscapes. But it’s the west of
Ireland landscapes in particular that I’m drawn to. To me they are what Ireland is all about,
and there is an energy and a sense of timelessness in them that I try to get across in my
paintings. I’ve never come across that in a still life!

Have you had any formal training in art?

No, apart from four or five life drawing sessions I am pretty much self taught. I tended to
collect discounted art instruction books and pick out snippets of information from each one
that I could follow easily. But most of what I do now is based on the tried and trusted
learning method of trial and error! And the beauty of working with oil paints is that once you
follow a couple of basic fundamentals they will put up with a lot and allow you to change and
add and redo, until you are happy with the end result.

What was the biggest challenge you have overcome in your painting career to date?

The biggest challenge was and continues to be to keep the work at a consistent level and to
keep it evolving and fresh. Unfortunately as an artist you can only sell a painting once! So it’s
no good having one brilliant piece that appeals to everyone, and nine other pieces that no one
wants. But equally you can’t keep reproducing the piece that everyone wants or variations of
it, because then you quickly run down a creative cul-de-sac where you become known as a
‘one-trick pony’, which can be very hard to come back from. The challenge is to produce a
work that will allow you build a sustainable career over your lifetime, that will produce a
relatively stable income, and yet continues to be seen by your existing collector base as being
fresh and interesting and continually evolving. One of the biggest thrills I get is hearing the
words ‘oh, this is different!’ as people come across my work. But it’s even better when some
of my existing collectors say the same thing. Because that means I am keeping their attention,
and surprising them.

To keep things evolving I have come up with a simple challenge for myself. I try to make
sure I produce at least three paintings every year that move me forward in some way, that I
wouldn’t have painted previously. It might seem like a small enough challenge to overcome
but it’s amazing how difficult it can be sometimes.

Are there themes that you explore in your work, or is there a particular message you aim to
communicate through your work?

There are some recurring themes that inform my work – the quiet isolation and beauty that is
found in parts of the west of Ireland, the timelessness of the landscape.
Old farmhouses, telegraph poles and out buildings feature strongly in my work. I love the
simplicity of some of the old Irish farmhouses, with their twin gable-end chimneys, they have
become part of the Irish landscape and hold generations of history. But my paintings are
about not only what you see in the landscape but also about what that landscape make you
feel. I want to somehow get across the magic of a place that, if you manage to capture it in a
painting, or a poem, or piece of music, will instantly bring you back there and recreate some
of the feelings you get from being there.

But ultimately I leave it to the viewer to take what they want from my paintings. And the
only message I want to communicate is: ‘look at this amazing landscape, this is Ireland’.

Who are your influences? What artists inspire you?

When I started to paint I began by copying paintings by Paul Henry and Markey Robinson
and others, and I can see those influences in my work now. I love Donald Teskey’s work,
particularly his large seascapes and coastal scenes. And I love the way French painters are not
afraid to use bold, strong colour. Cezanne and Monet would be my favourites.
I am inspired by the small number of independent artists in Ireland who are managing to
build a sustainable and financially viable career for themselves from their art and are making
work that is interesting and fresh. Artists that look to do their own thing and find their own
path. Gerard McGourty is someone that comes to mind.

How do you balance the creative side of your work with the reality of running a business?

I keep them completely separate. When I’m in the studio all I do is paint. My studio is at the
foot of Slievemore mountain on Achill Island where there is no broadband signal, so I don’t
have the distraction of constantly looking at my email and facebook.
There are times when I will spend less time in the studio and more time at my laptop working
on my website, updating images, planning exhibitions, running workshops. I find that I spend
about 40% of my time in the studio and the rest exhibiting and managing the business and
marketing side of things.

What do you enjoy most about what you do?

The time it allows me to spend with my family. I have three children under five (Rory and
Claire (5 year old twins) and Tom (2), and I get to plan my workday around their schedule.
We get to have lunch together when the twins come home from school, some mornings Anne
and I go to the nearby swimming pool with Tom for a swim, on Thursdays I get to mind Tom
for the whole morning and so we spend some time on the beach, or go for a walk and head
for a coffee somewhere. I suppose it’s what you called quality of life.
I also love the fact that there is no place to hide as a landscape artist. Your work speaks for
itself. It either connects with people or it doesn’t. There is nothing you can do to try and make
someone like it, or want to buy it. And that means there is no pressure to keep up a façade or
pretend to be anything you’re not. You can just be yourself, which is incredibly liberating.
And that feeds into my painting workshops, which are basically me showing people what I do
and why I do things in a certain way.

I know many people out there would love to be earning their living by doing the work they
love to do or by following their creative passion, from your experience what advice would
you pass on to them?

You have to have a clear vision of what it is you want to do and where you see yourself in
three, five years. Once you have that you can start to make plans to help you achieve it. I’
afraid I don’t believe in the romantic notion of giving up everything and following your
dream on a whim. It rarely works like that, but we only tend to hear about the exceptions that
did work. But if you have that vision and you have something that you know connects with
people then you should look for as much help as you can to develop a plan to make it work.
Find your own market, don’t expect it to find you or for someone else to find it for you. And
the best way to do that is to put your work in front of as many like minded people as possible.
For me that means exhibiting at the art fairs such as Art Source, where you get the
opportunity to show your work to up to 10,000 art enthusiasts.

What advice, hints or tips would you give to aspiring artists?

Forget about sales. Put all of your focus and energy into creating opportunities for people to
see your work, both offline and online. Get that right, and if the work connects with people,
then the sales will follow.
Also, get a good website. But don’t pay for someone to build it for you. There are lots of
portfolio website providers that offer fully functioning, professional template websites for
artists. Some are free, some come with an annual fee. These websites have been built
specifically for displaying art and photography and most offer a seven day trial. All you have
to do is add the content.

What’s next for Padraig McCaul? What are your dreams or aspirations as an artist?

Well, the Doorway Gallery will be showing my work in London at the affordable art fair in
march, and the plan for the next couple of years is to continue to show my work abroad and
to eventually get gallery representation in the US. As it stands about 60% of my sales are
going abroad, to the UK , US and Canada. So it’s a question of just building on that.
I suppose the dream is to get to a certain level of public recognition and to have my work
shown in some major public galleries.

Proust Questionnaire
Padraig, here are some questions I think you will find interesting. My aim is to ask everyone I
interview the same questions.
What’s your most cherished possession?
It used to be my wedding ring until I lost it. Then it was my replacement ring until I lost that
and the next one! But my dad’s watch would be the thing I cherish most now. I’ve always felt
he’s been looking over me and looking out for me as I was starting out as an artist.
Unfortunately he never got the chance to know me as a painter or see my paintings as he died
before I started to paint. So his watch is a nice way of keeping him close.

What are you currently reading (or learning)?
I’m not a great reader, I don’t make the time. But I am half way through Kevin Barry’s ‘City
of Bohane’ and I have his most recent collection of short stories waiting in the wings. I love
his writing, it is so visual and has so much life and energy in it.

What’s your idea of happiness?
Having a lazy morning at home with my family, after a successful exhibition and there’s
money in the bank again to cover the next couple of months!

Who or what inspires you?
Music is my other passion and I get great inspiration from it. I spent 15 years playing with
Dublin band the Harvest Ministers, but always on a part time basis. So I have music playing
in the studio all the time and it varies according to my mood. I listen to everything from indie
and alternative music to classic 70s rock and singer/song writers. I studied classical music at
college but I find I the simplicity and repetitiveness of ‘pop’ music to suit my moods when
I’m painting. I might listen to the same album on repeat up to five times in a day! Recently
I’ve been listening to Irish band My Bloody Valentine who have just released their first
album in 22 years! Their music is inspirational, they are innovators in what they do and it’s
inspiring to see a band so dedicated to constantly pushing their own boundaries. David Bowie
is someone else who has continuously moved his music forward, rarely content to fall back
on past glories.

What character trait do you most admire?
Integrity. I think people who really believe in what they do and do it with integrity are very
inspiring.

If you could send some advice back in time to your twenty-year-old self, what wisdom would
you share?
Always believe in yourself and your own judgement. Don’t allow yourself to defer to the
loudest voice in the group, because your ideas and opinions are pretty good too!

If you had a motto what would it be?
Only create work that excites you.

Padraig, it has been a pleasure speaking with you.