Landscape Painting An Grianán Art Retreat 2022

Once again, we had a lovely time painting en plein air landscapes at wonderful An Grianán in Termonfeckin, County Louth. Yes – we did manage to get some painting done, in between bouts of eating (they feed you well at An Grianán!). You can see some of the results in the photographs below.

Apart from the very local beauty spots such as the An Grianán grounds themselves and Port Oriel with its many fishing boats, we discovered a whole new place to paint – Barmeath Castle. I contacted owner, Bruce Bellew who hosted our painting group in the beautiful grounds, complete with spectacular views of the Mourne Mountains and many paintable nooks. Bruce also kindly took us on an impromptu guided tour of the gardens when we arrived. It’s definitely on the list for both of next year’s An Grianán painting retreats.

There’s so much going on at the weekends at the ICA’s headquarters. We repaired to the bar on one evening to chat and relax with a drink and ended up participating in a table quiz. Our team came in second and won a packet of Smarties each. We’re not going to let it change us though…

It’s great to get painting out in the fresh, spend time with like-minded, interesting people and exercise your creative muscles. I always fell a mixture of well-earned satisfaction, tiredness and well-being after these weekends. 

I’m looking forward to the next weekend art retreats in April and September 2023. Maybe I’ll see you there too?