Home!

We are home now. A wonderful 6 weeks of painting and exploring Scotland and Ireland.
I'll continue to post paintings. Here's one from October 3, 2015

"Local 8724", Near Bantry, Ireland, 7x10", oil on panel by Jan Norsetter

And a note about wet panel carrying:

Spent 6 weeks traveling and painting in Scotland and Ireland. Both are beautiful countries but rather wet. I made two boxes, each hold 12 wet panels that are 7” x 10”. Thought that would be enough and that some of the paintings would dry along the way. I ended up with over 40 wet or slightly tacky panels. How to get them home? The really wet paintings went into the carriers. For the rest I bought a package of large, 1/4” wide rubber bands and put them on the short edges of each panel, stacked the panels, and bound them together with stretch wrap. Tape would have worked too - just to keep them from shifting too much. Success.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015 / traveling

We drove to Dublin Airport to return our rental car. It took 3.75 hrs. We made no wrong turns! A major accomplishment. We checked into our airport hotel and took the bus to Dublin's city center to walk around and have dinner. We found Sweetwater Brew Pub, the same pub we visited in 2012. It had a different name then. 

Random shots of Dublin as we rode the bus back to our hotel. 

Monday, October 5, 2015 - rained all day

Good thing we just planned on packing and resting up today because it has been raining and foggy all day. 

Here's the painting from yesterday evening:

Today's view:

Here's what it looks like on a clearer day:

And, of course, we shared another banoffee dessert from Box of Frogs. May have to figure out how to make that:-)

Sunday, October 4, 2015 - Bantry Bay and L8724

It was overcast and super blustery today so I painted in the car this morning.  We parked facing the big tug boat at anchor in Bantry Bay. After several other attempts at painting boats as the wind swung them around their buoys I decided to try a bigger boat that wasn't going to move. We spoke to the captain of the tugboat yesterday. It tows oil freighters into harbor at Widdy Island. They only go out 25 or 30 times a year. We had seen the boat at anchor the whole time we were here until yesterday morning. Of course, I had to ask him where he'd gone. We saw the boat coming back to Bantry. When it settled into the dock I walked over and started asking questions. It seems like a really big boat to me. It's not cruise ship size but I bet it could tow one. 

Box of Frogs was closed today so we tried another bakery. I had a coffee cake. It wasn't coffeecake it was coffee flavored cake with coffee flavored buttercream frosting. It was pretty darn good. Forgot to take a picture of it. 

I painted on L8724 this evening and will post a photo of it later. 

It was super windy again. Plein Ca(i)r. I did have the window down:-)

Saturday, October 3, 2015 - Bantry Bay, Box of Frogs, L8724

Painted on L8724 this evening. Here's a low-res photo of it:

Friday, October 2, 2015 - Bantry Market Day and evening on L4724

Big market day. All the vendors come for the first Friday of the month. 

Our new addiction, banoffee dessert. Banana and toffee (a lot like caramel, not crunchy toffee). 

Painting on L4724. A little bit of a road with the Durrus River running perpendicular to it. 

Thursday, October 1, 2015 - Carriganass Castle and Bantry Bay

We went back to Carriganass Castle yesterday. Another beautiful and sunny day. 

The evening painting was a wiper. But the activity in the bay was worth the time.

Below is a homemade catamaran. They ran out of wind so the wife is in the water kicking like mad to propel the boat to the dock. The husband was paddling with one arm but gave up quickly when his wife jumped in to paddle. They both had wetsuits on. 

Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - Lauragh and L4713

What a difference a day makes. Today I was painting sans hat, coats, gloves, and wind pants:-)

I was painting the scene to my right. The canvas gets the shade and I squint against the sunlight. 

This evening's effort. 

Tuesday, September 29, 2015 - laundry, library, Box of Frogs cafe, big walk, painting on the L4713

A full day. First off, a 10k to the edge of Bantry and back. We were searching for the priests leap rock. We found it. We've met more than one person who professes belief in this "miracle". The priest leapt off a mountain about 25 kilometers away and landed so hard on this rock in Bantry that it left a horse hoof print. 

Stopped in at my favorite cafe, Box of Frogs. We had cupcakes. They were pretty good. The frosting was real buttercream.  

Yes, it was cool and windy this evening. Actually, I had a lot of clothes on. It gets cold when one is standing around. I look a bit like a refugee from a nursing home - you know, where the residents wear down coats when it's 85 degrees F outside. It wasn't 85. It was more like 55 but the locals are all in shirtsleeves. 

Monday, September 28, 2015 - another sunny day in County Cork!

We spent the morning painting at Knocknaveagh viewpoint, the afternoon walking and shopping and the evening painting on L4713, the south side of Seskin Hill. 

It was really windy on the hill. Down in Bantry it must've been 10 degrees warmer. 

"Evening on L4713", the south side of Seskin Hill, Bantry, Ireland 

Sunday, September 27, 2015 - another Knocknaveagh day

Another day spent at the top of Seskin Hill. I keep forgetting to take photos of the paintings in daylight. One of these days I'll remember. Another day without rain! Two in a row. Amazing. 

This next picture is for Helen. Baked goat cheese with walnuts at the Brick Oven in Bantry.

And, on our way home Phyllida told us to turn onto Ardrah Road. We did. It seemed more like a really long driveway. One lane wide. We drove about 5mph. There was a boy on a bicycle herding some cows into a pasture. The pasture was a long way from the farm so it took a while. 

Saturday, September 26, 2015 - Knocknaveagh at the top of Sheskin Hill

We'd heard of this place but it took us a while to find it. 

We helped the shepherd get his sheep from the field in the above photo to the field in the photo below. 

Friday, September 25, 2015 - Bantry Market Day, Gougane Barra, Ireland's top toilet

A real treat for you today. We began with a trip to Gougane Barra, a mountain hiking trail and home of Ireland's top toilet. They even have a plaque commemorating it (the toilet, that is)! Anyway, the water in the lake at the start of the trail was almost mirror-like.

This is the award winning toilet hut. It is cleverly designed on the inside and pretty adorable from the outside. 

At the Bantry Market Day we stopped at the Badass Burgers joint. He starts cooking the onions about 8am. By noon they are plenty caramelized. The burgers are Irish beef. They really are fantastic. 

Also bought jalapeño stuffed Greek olives from the olive lady and Jon had blueberries freshly picked by the blueberry lady. 

  My new favorite coffee shop: Box of Frogs Café. Had to have a decaf latte. The photo shows it being made. Haven't tried their pastries. Not sure there's anything worth buying this side of Paris;-)

Thursday, September 24, 2015 - Castletownbere, Lauragh, Healy Pass

We drove to Castletownbere, and walked around the town and harbor. Saw a ferry take on a car and then a huge truck loaded with wood and drywall. Couldn't believe it would fit. The driver had to back the truck down a ramp and up the gangplank. Amazing. 

Had coffee in a cute little shop in Lauragh. Wanted to paint the bay there but it started pouring rain so we kept on driving. Ate a picnic lunch on Healy Pass road. Back to Bantry library to use the wifi. 

Castletownbere harbor. Lots of working boats. 

Lauragh bay. It was a beautiful, sunny day one minute and raining the next. 

A crochet nut obviously runs this place:-) 

The flowers are still wild and beautiful here. The tree leaves are starting to shrivel and change to subtle fall colors. 

At the turn from Lauragh to Healy Pass. 

Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - Bantry, laundry, shopping and yesterday's painting

7x10", oil on panel, Killarney National Park, Muckross Gardens 

Yesterday I painted at Muckross Gardens in Killarney National Park. This tree just stood out, sort of grey green surrounded by darks. The grounds are mostly too manicured for me, but special trees speak. 

National parks are wonderful. Many Irish take advantage of them along with the tourists. I hope the USA doesn't goof up and denationalize our parks. They are so important to preserve for everyone. 

Tuesday, September 22, 2015 - the Priest's Leap adventure

The weather map showed rain in Killarney so we decided we should go there again. Irish logic: if it's raining there now, maybe it won't be raining there in an hour. 

Our GPS told us to take this short cut. When I looked at its map it did look like a shortcut between Bantry and Kenmare. Well, we decided to turn right when Phyllida (I named our sat nav voice) told us to. We followed the instructions and ended up on an exhilarating and terrifying road. Really, a sheep trail, with grass growing down the middle. Mind you, when we drove to Mizen Head the sat nav made it look like we were off-roading even though the road was clearly a well-travelled way. 

I thought if this road shows on the gps it must be ok. Very faulty logic!!! When we first arrived in Ireland several people told us to throw our gps out the window because it's not all that useful here. It was/is useful but a good map is also essential. Lesson learned. Not sorry we did this road. The day was sunny and we could see all the way to the Atlantic but if the brakes fail or a tire gets a puncture we may not get to the other side. Also, if we meet another car (we did not) there are no lay-bys so there'd be a lot of backing up to do. The tip top is super steep and really not for amateurs. Luckily Jon has nerves of steel and a never say die attitude so it all worked out and was one of the more amazing experiences of our trip. 

Monday, September 21, 2015, Killarney National Park

We drove to Killarney National Park today. It's gorgeous even when it's raining. We walked 8 miles. Mostly it was just misting but sometimes the sun came out and sometimes it was raining.