A journey in traditional gesso with Denise Clarke

Making a batch of rabbitskin glue, some will be used at once and the rest frozen. Not the nicest smelling stuff when it goes off. As I use traditional gesso (Rabbitskin glue and chalk) as a medium I need to make enough rabbitskin to finish the series of paintings if I want to prevent cracking as the layers are built up.

Boards cut, sanded and ready for first coat of glue.



Glued and drying

Five to eight layers of gesso are put on the boards before I start painting.

Never spent so much time watching and waiting for stuff to dry. This is why I use acrylic paint, the additional drying time needed for oils would make this process even longer.

Denise Clarke @ The Appleloft

Both rabbitskin glue and gesso are used when warm.
Wonderful work for the winter

Headland
Work in progress

Headland Ink, paint and gesso 28x28cm

2" square gesso and paint on board

Gesso and ink on card.
The gesso changes the ink colour as additional layers are added.

Thanks for checking this out.

Denise Clarke @ The Appleloft

New Artists @ the Appleloft Studios

Muireann Brady and Colm Rooney took up residency @ the Appleloft Studios in April of 2009.

Muireann Brady

Muireann Brady is a photography graduate from the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology - Muireann is currently making new work in between making a website and preparing for upcoming group shows in 2010, the first of which will be happening at the Chapel Gallery in Lancashire, UK. The 2nd show will be part of the Fotofestiwal in Lodz, Poland and will be traveling to Berlin and Cork.

Colm Rooney

Colm Rooney is an artist from Sligo. He has a degree from Crawford College of Art, Cork and a Masters in Music and Media Technology from Trinity College, Dublin. Colm works in traditional and new media. He is currently preparing for a solo exhibition to be held in the Joinery Gallery, Dublin in January next year. Colm is also a member of the band Wiggle who are based in cork and is involved in a number of musical projects.

Residential Studios @ The Appleloft, Easkey, Co Sligo

The Appleloft Studio and Galley was established in 1999. In the five years of the Appleloft Gallery we hosted 27 exhibitions involving 65 artists, 12 solo shows of which five were first solo exhibitions for emerging artists. The studio was used by four different artists and once as a residential studio. We ran professional workshops for local artists in Fibre Art, Ceramics, Life Drawing, Printmaking, Woodcarving and framing. Workshops for local children and annual Children's Exhibitions.

From 2000 we hosted a weekly life drawing workshop for women artists living in the West Sligo area. In 2002 we had an exhibition of the work at the Appleloft Gallery, which was opened by the Arts Officer Mary McAuliffe. Check out the recent work by the women artists of West Sligo at http://westsligowomansartgroup.blogspot.com/


Since 2004 The Appleloft has being operating as a residential studio. The main studio is in what was the Galley (the loft) and this year the second residential studio was opened. This residential studio comprises of a small Chalet and a large studio, formally the school room, which is in the adjacent stone stores.

The residence

The Chalet is a small wooden house set in the garden, quite and private.
There are two small bedrooms. Bathroom with electric power shower. The living area has a kitchen/dinning area beside a sitting room.
Oil central heating run on a timer or thermostat, washing machine and very good internet access with a choice of providers.

The Studio

The Studio is in the Appleloft building. The room is 7.5m x 5.5m and 3.5m high. There are 6 large velux windows which gives excelent light. A solid fuel stove heats the room and there is bathroom in the studio, hot and cold running water.

Local environment

The Appleloft is located in the village within walking distance of all facilities and is just across the road for the riverside foot path which leads down to the sea. There is a coastal road one and a half miles long beside a dramatic sea scape. Geologically Easkey is a gold mine with fossils in the rocks, ring forts and castles from the 10 and 14 centuries.

Easkey Village

Easkey ( In Irish Iascaigh, meaning ‘abounding in fish’) is a village situated in Co Sligo, Ireland. It is located on the Atlantic coast, 26 miles from Sligo and 15 miles from Ballina, Co Mayo. The village name derives from the Gaelic term for fish ('iasc') and 'Iascaigh' literally means "abounding in fish," due to the Easkey River that lies adjacent to the village itself. Easkey, as a parish, was originally called "Imleach Iseal." The area is popular in terms of its highly attractive scenery and the village has attracted a wide variety of tourists interested in water sports such as surfing, kayaking and fishing. The village boasts many attractive walking routes around the river estuary and coastline (with splendid views of the Slieve league and Banbulbin mountains) and through the local woods situated in the townland of Fortland. Geologists have become increasingly interested with the rugged coastline around Easkey, as it holds fossil structures that date back for millions of years.