You will always remember your first Achill Island Painting Workshop


 
You always remember the first time, right?

Well the first painting workshop I ran on Achill Island was pretty special...I'd been hoping for a nice sized group, maybe six or seven, enough to create a good dynamic and to ensure some good interaction over the two days of the workshop. The room I'd booked could easily cater for more if any latecomers showed up looking for a place, plus I'd bought in a few extra easels, made sure I had plenty of brushes and paints and canvases.

By my own standards I was well organised. My first confirmed booking had been taken nearly two months before the start of the workshop and there had been a steady flow of interest. This was going to work!
Sort of. As it turned out, despite all the interest, that first booking was the one and only! The dates didn't suit, a partner couldn't get the time off, 'we'll do it next month instead'... Lots of excuses, but only one person signed up.. It was going  to be a long weekend...!
But it turned out to be very special weekend. The lady that had booked, let's call her Catherine, turned out to be one of those people you meet in your life that make you feel better for just having been in their company. Catherine was a pensioner, and recently widowed. A born and bred Dubliner with a warm heart.
Catherine had been coming to Achill every year to paint for longer than she would admit. For two weeks each year she would come with her husband and paint the Minaun Cliffs, Keem Bay, Croghaun, Keel Beach...She was passionate about Achill. It had got under her skin, she had the bug! Her husband didn't paint but would accompany her each day, sit and read the paper in the car and together in the evening they would discuss the day's painting. On one such day her husband suffered a massive heart attack and died. She had lost her companion and friend on those painting trips.
But Catherine continued to come to Achill, on her own, to paint and to remember her husband. Some friends tried to dissuade her, they couldn't understand why she would come all that way on her own, to a place where 'it always rained' (not true!), and was so remote and isolated. They didn't see the beauty of the island, they just didn't 'get Achill' they way some people do and that makes them return time after time. But Catherine did.



And so this particular weekend she spent it with me. She was the gentlest character you could wish to meet. She was constantly apologising for taking too much of my time or for asking too many questions! I had to keep reminding her that she had in fact paid for the weekend and therefore could ask me as many questions or take as much of my time as she wanted. We spent the mornings at Keem Bay and Keel and Dookinella, sketching and drawing before heading back to Ted's function room where we painted for the rest of the day, stopping at lunchtime for a bowl of their legendary homemade soup and brown bread.
She told me stories about the many times she and her husband had come to Achill, about the painting classes she had attended on the island and how previous tutors would arrive in the morning to give a short demonstration... then leave, and let the class work away on their own for the rest of the day! I started to get a much better idea about how I was going to run my own workshops, and from her I got a sense of what was working and what wasn't.

The workshops have developed since then but the one thing that doesn't seem to change is the type of people that attend them. Without exception I tend to attract warm hearted, generous, friendly people who want to spend a few days painting, enjoy their time on the island and make some new friends in the process. And that's why I find myself looking forward to the start of the 'season' every year, wondering about the people who will attend and what stories I'll be privileged to be part of for a few days.

 

Blog

We are delighted to announce Padraig McCaul as the winner of our 2024 Favourite Painting art exhibition and competition.
This is a blog post I wrote back in 2014 about the first workshop I ran on Achill Island. I'm republishing it here, along with some others, to make sure I have them all in one place on my website.
Revisiting an interview I gave to the Mayo News in 2014 about moving to Achill and living and working on the island
Ten years is a long time! In 2013 I gave an interview to James Sweetman for his online e-Zine and Blog. In it we discussed my life before I became a painter and how I made the transition to full time artist. James is a highly-rated and well-respected Executive and Personal Coach, Trainer, Keynote Speaker, Author and Columnist, and he had some great questions. Below is the interview in full..
This is an article I wrote for the US website EmptyEasel.com in 2014. It is a short guide to my own philosophy around making a living as an artist.
In the world of art, few subjects have captured the imagination and creativity of artists as powerfully as landscapes. Here is an article written for the benefit of Google SEO :-)
My new solo exhibition, ‘The Ties That Bind’, opens in the Doorway Gallery, Dublin on July 7th and runs until July 28th. Here is an interview I gave to the Doorway Gallery as part of the social media campaign....
The RTE Nationwide TV programme is now available to view on the RTE Player.
In August this year I got to spend a magical 8 days at the Cill Rialaig artist residency in Co.Kerry
RTE Nationwide visited Achill in May, 2021 to film me in my studio and surroundings and to talk about my work and time on Achill Island
A DAY IN THE LIFE: PADRAIG MCCAUL, 20 APRIL 2021
An insightful, glowing review of Fáinne Óir from author and film producer, Kevin Fortuna.
Fáinne Óir opened to standing ovations in New York and Castlebar. Here is a comprehensive review by the Irish Echo, the oldest and largest selling Irish newspaper in USA.
Composer and conductor Kathy Fahey is bringing an ambitious new music and contemporary dance production to stage
I am absolutely thrilled to let you know about the world premiere of a new music and contemporary dance production, Fáinne Óir, which takes place on September 20th in the Theatre Royal, Castlebar before moving to New York for a performance in the Symphony Space Theatre, Broadway, on September 26th.
I am very excited to have been asked to create a set of new original paintings to be used as the backdrops for a new Irish contemporary music and dance production, Fáinne Óir.
A MAYO artist who is just back from a sell-out exhibition in Australia will be showing his vivid portraits of the Achill landscape at Ireland’s premier art fair Art Source, in the RDS from November 10 to 12. http://www.con-telegraph.ie/news/roundup/articles/2017/11/01/4147921-mayo-artist-in-the-national-spotlight-after-australian-success/
I held my first exhibition in Australia in July this year at the Kidogo Arthouse, Fremantle. It was a great success and turned out to be a complete sell out.
I recently exhibited at the Affordable Art Fair in London with the Doorway Gallery. It's always an exciting fair to be at and this was, I think, my sixth time at the fair. Here's a link to a great review of the show from William McKenzie.
Padraig McCaul paintings to feature in new national Eircode marketing campaign
Summer 2016 is going to be very busy, with paintings workshops, exhibitions and a major national marketing campaign to look forward to.
This is an interview I gave to the Galway Advertiser in the run up to my exhibition at the Townhall Theatre in Galway in March this year.

Remembering my First Achill Painting Workshop

2/23/2024

You will always remember your first Achill Island Painting Workshop


 
You always remember the first time, right?

Well the first painting workshop I ran on Achill Island was pretty special...I'd been hoping for a nice sized group, maybe six or seven, enough to create a good dynamic and to ensure some good interaction over the two days of the workshop. The room I'd booked could easily cater for more if any latecomers showed up looking for a place, plus I'd bought in a few extra easels, made sure I had plenty of brushes and paints and canvases.

By my own standards I was well organised. My first confirmed booking had been taken nearly two months before the start of the workshop and there had been a steady flow of interest. This was going to work!
Sort of. As it turned out, despite all the interest, that first booking was the one and only! The dates didn't suit, a partner couldn't get the time off, 'we'll do it next month instead'... Lots of excuses, but only one person signed up.. It was going  to be a long weekend...!
But it turned out to be very special weekend. The lady that had booked, let's call her Catherine, turned out to be one of those people you meet in your life that make you feel better for just having been in their company. Catherine was a pensioner, and recently widowed. A born and bred Dubliner with a warm heart.
Catherine had been coming to Achill every year to paint for longer than she would admit. For two weeks each year she would come with her husband and paint the Minaun Cliffs, Keem Bay, Croghaun, Keel Beach...She was passionate about Achill. It had got under her skin, she had the bug! Her husband didn't paint but would accompany her each day, sit and read the paper in the car and together in the evening they would discuss the day's painting. On one such day her husband suffered a massive heart attack and died. She had lost her companion and friend on those painting trips.
But Catherine continued to come to Achill, on her own, to paint and to remember her husband. Some friends tried to dissuade her, they couldn't understand why she would come all that way on her own, to a place where 'it always rained' (not true!), and was so remote and isolated. They didn't see the beauty of the island, they just didn't 'get Achill' they way some people do and that makes them return time after time. But Catherine did.



And so this particular weekend she spent it with me. She was the gentlest character you could wish to meet. She was constantly apologising for taking too much of my time or for asking too many questions! I had to keep reminding her that she had in fact paid for the weekend and therefore could ask me as many questions or take as much of my time as she wanted. We spent the mornings at Keem Bay and Keel and Dookinella, sketching and drawing before heading back to Ted's function room where we painted for the rest of the day, stopping at lunchtime for a bowl of their legendary homemade soup and brown bread.
She told me stories about the many times she and her husband had come to Achill, about the painting classes she had attended on the island and how previous tutors would arrive in the morning to give a short demonstration... then leave, and let the class work away on their own for the rest of the day! I started to get a much better idea about how I was going to run my own workshops, and from her I got a sense of what was working and what wasn't.

The workshops have developed since then but the one thing that doesn't seem to change is the type of people that attend them. Without exception I tend to attract warm hearted, generous, friendly people who want to spend a few days painting, enjoy their time on the island and make some new friends in the process. And that's why I find myself looking forward to the start of the 'season' every year, wondering about the people who will attend and what stories I'll be privileged to be part of for a few days.