ALL THINGS IRISH AND ROCK'N ' ROLL. Norman Teeling PRESENTS IRISH PAINTER PAUL KELLY.

[00:00:05][music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Yeah. Well, we're down here with Mr. Paul Kelly, uh, a gentleman comes from Rush, and we're down here in Cork, where he's now living. And Paul, great to see you.

[00:01:24]>> Thanks, Orin. Thanks for coming. Uh uh.

[00:01:27]>> Why did you come down here?

[00:01:28]>> Well, it's I suppose I travel around a lot to seek different sorts of >> landscapes and inspirations for painting. So, it's all it's all to do with painting.

[00:01:38]>> That is that's the bottom line.

[00:01:40]>> That is the bottom line. That's that's how we spend our life. So, >> well, can I ask you just how did you get into art in the first place? I mean, you've been you've been painting as long as I know you about 30 40 years.

[00:01:51]>> 40 years. Yeah.

[00:01:52]>> It must be that length. Yeah. And uh you're still at it, a middle-aged man now. And uh how do you find it as a kind of a career? Would you recommend it?

[00:02:04]>> I find it it's a life. It's a life. You dedicate yourself [music] to painting.

[00:02:09]You have to. Um >> there's you can call yourself a painter, but I think we're fine art painters >> and the fine art is the bit that defines us.

[00:02:18]>> Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. The old tradition.

[00:02:21]>> Yeah. The old tradition. And uh I mean what when you when you actually started off did you uh aspire to be an artist or or were you just kind of more or less uh developed as you went along and just became an artist or was it a divine plan in other words?

[00:02:37]>> No. No divine plan but I always knew I love drawing and painting. Drawing primarily [music] >> and I was the key to it all is encouragement.

[00:02:46]>> I mean my parents were really good at encouraging me.

[00:02:49]>> Yeah. So important. My grandfather was a cabinet maker. [music] We sat down through matchstick men. Um he he'd give me some money and I'd go and buy art materials. [clears throat] >> And I suppose uh being from Rush.

[00:03:06]>> Uh we left Rush National School and we went to a convent >> run by the nuns.

[00:03:13]>> St. Joseph's had become a co-educational school >> and uh as a result they had to hire in male teachers for the male students.

[00:03:22]There was 26 of us >> and uh they had this fantastic art teacher. [snorts] >> His name was Jim Kariff and he he >> I suppose he encouraged us. He took a shine to me because I was interested in art >> and uh he took us to places like the National Gallery.

[00:03:43]>> We were from Rush 20 mi into Dublin go to the National Gallery >> and I seen the Irish impressionists.

[00:03:50]>> Who were they?

[00:03:52]>> Walter Osborne, William Orin, >> Lavy, all the great Irish names >> and [snorts] you know so he took us in on the bus.

[00:04:01]>> H and that made a huge impression on on me that I said look at these pictures.

[00:04:06]Look at the light in these paintings.

[00:04:07][music] I mean, it opened up a whole world.

[00:04:09]>> Yeah.

[00:04:10]>> And I just said, I want I want to do this. That's what I want to do.

[00:04:14]>> Um, the William Leech, you know, the convent garden.

[00:04:17]>> And how how did you actually [music] manage to kind of get become a full-time painter, artist, I mean, surviving is difficult enough.

[00:04:26]Uh, just painting without like trying to make a decent living out of it. And you end up here in this beautiful house.

[00:04:32]Well, >> with the masterpieces everywhere.

[00:04:36]>> I already when I was in school had two exhibitions under my belt.

[00:04:41]>> The nuns gave me the convent hall uh >> in rush >> in rush for a weekend when I was when I was in third class or third year and fifth year >> and I put 50 paintings in the convent hall and I actually sold all [music] 50 paintings. Is that right? every year for510 that sort of price range.

[00:05:04]>> So I did my portfolio for college.

[00:05:07]Unfortunately I didn't get in >> but luckily enough an animation studio had opened in Dublin which was uh Sullivan Blue Studios.

[00:05:16]>> Yeah.

[00:05:17]>> And I took my same portfolio >> just [snorts] turned up at reception.

[00:05:21]>> Yeah. That was that was the launching pad.

[00:05:24]>> That was it. That was it. Yeah. Um and it was fantastic.

[00:05:27]>> There was no looking back after that.

[00:05:28]No, looking back I didn't >> I mean you spent uh what was it something like 12 years in animation.

[00:05:32]>> 12 years in animation.

[00:05:34]>> Three of those years were spent in America.

[00:05:36]>> Three in America. Don.

[00:05:37]>> Yeah. But when you go back to thinking about uh this is I was I was 17.

[00:05:43]>> Uh when I started working for Don Blue Studios and I mean the closest thing we had to watching Americans on television was Dallas, >> you know, Jr. Ewing and Sue Ellen >> and [music] and then suddenly we had 70 animators and background painters >> come over to the studio, >> confident, loud, >> talented.

[00:06:08]>> I know >> people >> and >> and we we we were so uh inhibited and >> well Ireland in the 80s was a very different place, you know. It was absolutely >> um and [snorts] we do we were so blessed to have >> very lucky cuz I mean I work with you so that's why >> I know exactly what you're saying that when you when you're actually in Ireland [music] and you're trying to >> become a painter where do you go how do you learn I was fortunate that I was able to get to the art college but even then there was no guarantee that I was ever going to get a job >> and then uh I was fortunate just like you to get into Don Blue Studios We'll talk a little bit about that. Uh so when you actually go into the studio uh obviously uh there were great [music] American painters work for him. So they came to Ireland and that's where we really learned.

[00:06:57]>> Yeah.

[00:06:58]>> That was the stepping stone really into >> we got an opportunity to move around the studio.

[00:07:03]>> So you could um try different departments and you're actually encouraged, >> you know, you could be a special effects artist, you could be a cleanup artist, you could be an animator. Yeah.

[00:07:12]>> Um, and I [clears throat] was a cleanup artist and John Pomeised him.

[00:07:16]>> Uh, but I just found clean up so repetitive. Drawing after drawing and my nature is not like that.

[00:07:22]>> That's literally uh cleaning up >> cleaning up the drawing. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:07:26]Other people's work >> but when I see it on screen now, I'm actually quite proud of the fact that, you know, The Land Before Time has become one of these classics.

[00:07:34]>> But really, when like yourself, we had the exact same experience.

[00:07:39]>> We walked up to the fifth floor. Yeah.

[00:07:42]>> Opened the doors >> and we were in the background department.

[00:07:45]>> I know.

[00:07:46]>> And we looked at all the color keys on the walls >> and it was like >> amazing. I mean the color keys were are are basically colored [music] story boards.

[00:07:55]>> Yeah.

[00:07:55]>> And uh Don Moore was the color key artist.

[00:07:59]I mean he was probably one of the best uh background artist that ever existed.

[00:08:03]I think so.

[00:08:04]>> In any any film.

[00:08:05]>> Yeah. And there he was in the same room as as us, you know. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:09]>> Um >> you you actually have uh some examples of his work here, haven't you?

[00:08:14]>> I do. Yeah. Yeah. I actually have copies of >> The Secret of N I think is Don Blute's masterpiece.

[00:08:20]>> Yeah.

[00:08:20]>> Has to be. I mean, [music] it's it's it's it's painterly. It it's there was three background painters. It was Ron Deist, Don Moore, and Dave Gats. And they all are fantastic artists.

[00:08:31]>> And this this is why I wanted [music] to be a background painter. I just looked at these backgrounds and >> but we we aspired to reach that level they were and these guys were at it like for donkeys years >> and we kind of like thought that you know [music] if we could just get in in with these guys that we'd become as good as them you know and we kind of did to a certain degree.

[00:08:54]>> Uh yeah there >> when when when you have these guys showing you >> and teaching [music] you and and then you're required to paint one background a day.

[00:09:03]>> Yeah. that that was the job. That's five backgrounds a week. So, you had to become very quick. Your eye had to [music] become very quick. [snorts] >> Um, >> it was really the perfect job for if you were a painter, wasn't it?

[00:09:14]>> Why would you get a job as you paint you paint cartoons uh all day long, you know?

[00:09:19]>> Yeah, I know.

[00:09:20]>> And get paid.

[00:09:20]>> I know.

[00:09:21]>> Like these are photocopies of of >> the backgrounds without the characters.

[00:09:27][music] >> Yeah. Beautiful.

[00:09:28]>> So, this is what we would have >> painted. But look at the washes. Oh, beautiful. Absolutely.

[00:09:34]>> I mean, this is technically >> Yeah.

[00:09:37]>> painted in about half an hour. Most of the important details are put in the wash.

[00:09:42]>> Yeah.

[00:09:43]>> And the skill to be able to do that.

[00:09:44]>> I know.

[00:09:45]>> It took a long time to uh >> absolutely to learn >> to learn it, you know, >> but I mean these these are kind of skills or tricks that these guys developed, you know, through the Disney the whole that whole animation scene.

[00:09:58]>> Yeah. uh that we people outside didn't know how they did it. And for these guys to come over and show us their [music] tricks, >> their skill and their tricks, you know, uh you know, we were very lucky.

[00:10:10]>> But it's actually real painting. I mean, we were using brushes and brush.

[00:10:13]>> Yeah. Not like now where it's all >> it's all computers. Yeah.

[00:10:17]>> It's a different world today.

[00:10:19]>> Plus, when we painted backgrounds, we had access to Don Blute [music] because every week we'd have the meeting and he'd be approving the the work and you'd be having direct contact. So all so all this what we see here and talking about animation is really the foundation of of uh where you are what you've become today. Yeah. As a painter.

[00:10:36]>> That was your background. That was how you your how you learn. [music] That was your training.

[00:10:39]>> It was >> like it wasn't our college. So really on the job.

[00:10:43]>> Yeah. If they hadn't have uh actually come over to Ireland uh we would have we we wouldn't be as good as we are today.

[00:10:51][laughter] >> Well it's opened up the whole industry our Irish animation industry. is and now there's 33 apparently studios >> studios in Ireland thanks to Don Blue.

[00:11:01]>> So that's that's why we're we're giving him a plug right now because uh he really did launch a lot of uh art artists put them on the road to success.

[00:11:12]Now of course it's all uh >> well when it when it changed to computer that's when I lost that end of that.

[00:11:17]>> Yeah. So I'm not one of these people that specializes in any particular thing. I love harbor scenes, >> you know, >> everything. Every every genre, >> every everything. And I suppose that's why I move around a lot and we're here in Cork now >> because Cork is such a huge county. I think I'll be 10 years trying to explore >> my way around.

[00:11:36]>> Yeah.

[00:11:37]>> It's fantastic, but it's the lifestyle that it gives you. Um, it was a great time in Ireland, uh, when when the Celtic Tiger came and, uh, we got five or six good years and and an artist was able to sell his work and make a decent living. I don't think there was any >> fortune in it, but I was able to raise a family >> um, through my paintings >> uh, up up to a certain time >> and uh, I mean, what a privilege.

[00:12:05]>> I mean, nobody got to do that before.

[00:12:07]No, >> there was nobody and I don't think anyone afterwards either.

[00:12:10]>> Well, when I remember when I was uh me being a bit older than you that uh the guys that taught me in the art college and uh most of them just painted maybe half a dozen pictures a year, but they were full-time artists. They consider themselves artists, but they were they all thought because you just couldn't make a living. Yeah.

[00:12:29]>> As a as a full-time painter. And during that period in the in was the 80s or 90s uh people were actually advised by the government to invest in paintings. Of course anybody who could paint were but both hands were were all lashing them out and then the crash came and obviously kind of ended that >> but only the real >> purist >> the dedicated. Yeah.

[00:12:50]>> Stayed with it.

[00:12:50]>> Yeah. despite the fact >> even though even though now you're you're struggling and financially and that trying to >> well telling things is difficult you know but >> you still have the same >> and you want to and you just keep going >> well after 40 years there's not much going to be able >> but uh no it's travel was a great thing for um like during the animation years I got to travel a lot of places >> you went to America you worked with blutes over there Phoenix two and a half years but I also traveled to Australia Thailand, Taiwan. Um, and uh, you know, it it just feeds it's like you go different places, it feeds your your >> I used to go to your your exhibitions uh way back and and you have a team like you'd have uh, for example paintings of uh, Lambbeay Island and the whole exhibition was consistent and then you had one then on masks the mask festival in Venice >> and then you had uh, did you have one on that on the that uh Spanish.

[00:13:54]>> Oh, Holy Week in Spain. I've also been to Morocco. [music] But I I never intend that, you know, to do a whole bunch of pictures. [music] It just >> one picture leads to another one >> leads to another. And uh and then before you know it, you've you've got an exhibition on on a and a story of places you've been and things you've seen. And that's the people, the the landscape.

[00:14:16]>> Uh it could be anything like a still life in a window with like what Matis.

[00:14:20]So, so when you I notice about your work is that you uh when you get interested in a particular uh theme or >> Yeah.

[00:14:29]>> you go to a particular country, >> you just paint like about 150 pictures.

[00:14:34]>> Well, I I do a whole >> You really go into the bones of it.

[00:14:38]>> I could get six months straight solid painting where I'm painting every day [music] >> and then suddenly I I get tired and I'm worn out. Yeah. I'm fed up then and I have to move it then on to something different. But that's the story of the artist, you know.

[00:14:52]>> Well, while other artists now would, like myself, for example, I'd paint if I went had an exhibition, there'd be a painting of of Cork, one of Spain, one of America or something. Well, you you you're uh kind of more inclined to kind of like >> I I am now, but I I my pictures, my Irish exhibitions though, I'd follow the seasons.

[00:15:13]>> Yeah.

[00:15:13]>> So, if we woke up and it was snowing, I mean, to God, it's going to inspire a snow picture, you know? or you wake up early in the morning, it's misty, you know, the summer mist, the heat's rising.

[00:15:23]>> But your earlier exhibitions, I remember when you lived in Rush, were all of the the uh the farmland and the vegetables and the fabulous paintings of cabbage and where I grew up. I was born under a head of cabbage. That's what my mother used to say.

[00:15:37]>> Yeah. Yeah, I know. But but that that that's that that's part of of what you are today, you know.

[00:15:42]>> Yeah. But Rush, you have to remember Rush had a good history of artists visiting >> uh painters visiting Rush.

[00:15:50]>> That's right.

[00:15:50]>> We had Walter Osborne came out and he painted a whole bunch of great pictures.

[00:15:54]Rush Harbor, the main street.

[00:15:56]>> That's right.

[00:15:57]>> Um we also had Patty Leonard [music] was from Rush. He's a Rush man. He's fantastic harbor >> pictures. Kieran Clear >> did the moonlight landscapes.

[00:16:09]>> James English.

[00:16:10]>> James English was there. our friend Dez Fitz Simons Desimus [music] was out there and that's actually how we we met was True Dez.

[00:16:16]>> True Dez.

[00:16:17]>> Um so Rush was full like it attracted we we had detach houses for Walter. I was born he was you know and and uh >> but there's a whole line of and I think I'm just one of those and there's a whole bunch more people out there now that have moved to Rush and they're doing fantastic >> those a lotments that know you're [music] going down the little streets and the walls and you look over the walls and there's all these a lotments.

[00:16:39]People are out in the fields picking tomatoes and growing cabbage. But it's the it's like great inspiration.

[00:16:45]>> It's the subject like the Newan school, you know. Um >> George Claus and he painted the the turnup.

[00:16:53]>> Um so I was looking at these paintings wanting to paint rush like those. Well, I did I I don't know. But that was my inspiration really. I I could see it being an artist colony. Uh, [snorts] which I suppose it it is looking through the history of the the paintings of Rush. You could do a whole exhibition.

[00:17:12]>> Oh, yeah. Could >> just Rush paintings alone.

[00:17:15]>> Um, >> but I'll tell you what we'd like to do.

[00:17:16]I'd like to maybe see you uh maybe do give us a demonstration.

[00:17:21]>> Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. We go to the studio.

[00:17:23]>> Go to the studio and show us some of your work.

[00:17:25]>> Yeah, we'll do that.

[00:17:25]>> And we can uh have another little chat.

[00:17:28]>> Yeah.

[00:17:28]>> Okay. Back in a minute.

[00:17:30]>> Well, here we are now. We're actually up in uh Paul's [music] studio in Cork and he's going to give us a demonstration of his artistry.

[00:17:41]What are you going to paint for us, Paul?

[00:17:42]>> I'm going to do a quick demo. This is Katy's brother, Alan.

[00:17:48]>> Oh, he's very good. Yeah.

[00:17:48]>> He's the golfer I told you about.

[00:17:50]>> Um I I just like the red and the green and it's going to give big impact straight away. But what I'll do is I'll just do a quick demo. won't be anything that has just anything but just a process.

[00:18:02]>> Yeah, just a process. Great. Great.

[00:18:04]>> Okay. So, basically just indication lines. It's it's probably the way you [music] you you do it yourself. You basically start off, >> right?

[00:18:11]>> Okay. I'm I'm going to keep this. I like the composition. It's just straight.

[00:18:15]>> Uh just to indicate basically the >> the shapes. [music] Um going to come down. There's not going to be anything really much in the way of >> Yeah.

[00:18:24]>> of the background.

[00:18:27]So it's [music] just indications.

[00:18:30]So very loose.

[00:18:37]I'm not normally used to having a camera.

[00:18:40]>> Yeah.

[00:18:41]>> Yeah.

[00:18:44]Look at me. So it's just to get the indications.

[00:18:54]You got a likeness already. Move brushes. So, what I'm going to do is start with my darks.

[00:18:59]>> Yeah.

[00:19:00]>> Which I think is >> the old traditional >> traditional way.

[00:19:05]So, I'm just mixing mixing my colors here. So, so I I my paintings start off like a watercolor approach.

[00:19:15]>> Yeah. Like tint or thick.

[00:19:18]>> Tint to thick. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:19:20]>> So, I'm just really just putting down put all the darks in first >> and you work your way up.

[00:19:30]>> You work your way up, but you're comparing like with like. So, what I You got to remember that in in this picture, >> you've got a lot of green reflections, which is also going to be in front of them, which is going to give you the under >> Yeah. the life. Anything under the chin, under the nose is going to be probably is going to give you the under >> Yeah.

[00:19:51]>> the reflected life. Anything under the chin, under the nose is going to be probably in green in in in reflection.

[00:19:57]>> And plus, you've got the sky above, which is a sunny day, so it's going to be blue.

[00:20:01]>> Blue.

[00:20:01]>> So that's going to I know he's wearing a cap, but that's going to indicate anything on the top surface. Yeah.

[00:20:06]>> Surfaces. So the top of the nose.

[00:20:08]>> It's all reflected light.

[00:20:09]>> It's absolutely all about the light.

[00:20:11]>> Yeah.

[00:20:12]>> But the thing about painting is it's all about the values, the tones. It doesn't really matter about the color.

[00:20:17]>> Yeah. Uh, if you get the right values, [music] I mean, you could paint you could you could paint >> you could go mad. You could paint anything. That's what you go right into expressionism if if you wanted and take it across from reality.

[00:20:31]>> Um, but the the the trick is to get as much information down as quickly as you can >> as as as possible.

[00:20:40]>> So, what you're doing is really blocking in the basic shapes.

[00:20:44]>> Blocking it in. Yeah.

[00:20:45]>> Yeah. And then you will uh add the details later obviously.

[00:20:48]>> Yeah. And I I probably won't even add in a lot of detail. I I actually think there's enough with the color >> Yeah. to do the job for you to actually do the job. Yeah.

[00:21:00]>> So >> you're putting a lot of the little reflected light from from uh >> Well, it's from what the grass >> what I mentioned. Yeah. It's thinking thinking ahead.

[00:21:09]>> Yeah.

[00:21:10]So, >> I'm keeping it almost transparent and very thin.

[00:21:15]>> That's what I do.

[00:21:16]>> And then you work towards thick paint then at the end.

[00:21:19]>> It's fat over lean.

[00:21:20]>> Yeah.

[00:21:22]>> Yeah. So, the darker colors are more transparent and the lighter colors are built up more to to a buttery sort of a consistency thicker.

[00:21:32]>> So, getting some of that in. Now, don't forget some of that will go cooler because of the reflected light from the sky. And then I'll I'll actually be adding green into >> Oh, I see >> the red as I come down because indicating the reflection of the grass.

[00:21:47]>> But the reason I picked [music] this image >> Yeah.

[00:21:52]>> is really because what's going to happen now is I'm going to shoot some red.

[00:21:59]Mhm.

[00:21:59]>> Just to get an idea. It's going to be very nice.

[00:22:04]>> Going to be some little indications of that.

[00:22:08]Um, now look at the color of the ears.

[00:22:10]Isn't that lovely?

[00:22:11]>> Yeah. [snorts] >> So, a bit more pink. Well, >> the band right across the face is warm, isn't that right? The nose and the ears, the cheeks [music] and the >> uh center of the face. Yeah.

[00:22:24]>> So, it's it's really a process of corrections, isn't it? It's constantly correcting.

[00:22:29]>> It's all a process. And the last thing really is the likeness. I mean, I'm not worried about the likeness of this at this stage. Oh, I'm just looking at bulks of uh >> Yeah, >> bulks of color.

[00:22:45]You can see >> this. Me standing here with you now reminds me of when we worked in blues together background and I I'd call you over and say, "Help me. [laughter] >> I'm >> I always thought it was a I mean, the way we started watercolors >> uh is is is a different approach. We start from light to dark instead of dark to light. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:23:05]>> Um, and anytime a phone call would come in >> because the wash was the most important part. That's where you put down probably 50% of the information, the grasses, the anything in the background, the clouds.

[00:23:19]>> And then the phone would inevitably ring. Is Norman tealing [music] in.

[00:23:22]>> And I go, "Oh, he's in the middle of a wash.

[00:23:25]>> He can't come to the phone right now."

[00:23:26]So you wonder, "What are people going to think?

[00:23:29]>> We're talking about a wash.

[00:23:31]>> Having a shower.

[00:23:31]>> Having a shower." Now, I know the drawing of the head is not right yet.

[00:23:34]I'm actually going to go in I'm going to correct it's more of an oval shape.

[00:23:39]>> Um >> but but that's >> basically the start of the process. Now two more hours down the line of >> huffing up huffing and >> a cup of coffee and and coming back and seeing it with fresh eyes.

[00:23:50]>> But you can see the bones of it there. I mean I mean it's more than that. It's actually half finished or more so >> it it looks even as it is. It looks great.

[00:23:57]>> Yeah. Yeah. And it depends how far you really want to push it. I mean, by by leaving some of the canvas showing through, >> that gives it another >> it it gives it a layer of interest that when you know the viewer comes to look at it, they're not just looking at a picture of a guy in a golf.

[00:24:10]>> So, what you're really trying to avoid is a photorealistic >> painting. [music] Yeah. I'm not Yeah.

[00:24:15]Yeah. Yeah. You're trying to add much more information. And that's that's the difference between I mean I know I'm using a camera in this case but [music] the experience that you have with painting outdoors painting from life >> um you retain all that information.

[00:24:30]>> Mhm.

[00:24:30]>> And by retaining it you're using it in every painting [music] that you use down the line.

[00:24:35]>> Yeah.

[00:24:35]>> So [snorts] that's it. Well, what we'll do is um you can finish off in your own time.

[00:24:41]>> Yeah. And I'll send you an actual picture the finish thing. Yeah.

[00:24:55]Yeah. Uh Paul, I I [music] particularly like this painting and I had an opportunity of buying it, but you got in before me and this is by our [music] mentor, you might say, Sonia Pinch Pong, >> who's a huh from Thailand, Chinese, lives in Los Angeles, American citizen, an absolute master, and paints in Russian style. You can work that out. Uh so uh your [music] own painting you were saying to me that you were going to when I asked you would you like to give a demonstration you said you said [music] uh no problem and uh did you have this in mind?

[00:25:34]>> Always have this in mind. This is without even a landscape or or you know harper makes no difference. What what you see here >> and we'll talk about Sunny in a minute.

[00:25:45]He's an absolute master at painting >> and it's I mean look at the skin tones.

[00:25:51]>> I know. Amazing >> in that picture. Now just compare them to my skin tone.

[00:25:55]>> Yeah.

[00:25:55]>> And there is there is none of this >> Yeah.

[00:25:58]>> in that. But what he's done is he's he's he's [music] painted an outdoor scene.

[00:26:02]>> Yeah.

[00:26:03]>> A girl in a garden.

[00:26:04]>> I know.

[00:26:04]>> Uh with all the reflected colors we talked about on the demonstration.

[00:26:11]um the the coolness of the the sky above uh the reflection from of what she's wearing in her t-shirt, >> but not one ounce of pink.

[00:26:21]>> Take my hand away, look at that piece, and completely believable.

[00:26:26]>> Completely believable. And it's it's a patchwork of different colors.

[00:26:30]>> Yeah.

[00:26:30]>> You know, he's he's not he's he's actually sculpting paint on, too.

[00:26:36]>> He's following the form of the head like the forehead. He look look at the shape of the brush strokes. He's actually sculpting >> with with paint.

[00:26:44]>> Um and you can you can't do that unless you have >> Yeah.

[00:26:49]>> So many years of experience, which he has.

[00:26:51]>> And by by seeing him when we first seen Sunny's work, >> it was in the Polo Gallery uh just off Moldsworth Street.

[00:27:01]>> And you've got to remember that [music] the art books I used to buy at the time back in the 1980s were all black and white. Mhm.

[00:27:08]>> Maybe one or two color reproductions >> and then we walk in to see what this man can do >> with color.

[00:27:17]>> Never seen anything like it before. He brought the Russian style of painting over to Dublin >> and we just our jaws dropped.

[00:27:24]>> I know.

[00:27:25]>> I mean, we see we've never seen anything like it.

[00:27:28]>> And and that that that's what inspired me to >> want to be around them. I mean, I painted backgrounds with him, but every Monday morning I'd come in. Sunny would have all the time of the weekend and there would be paintings, his own landscape paintings, [music] a view out the window, >> um a a portrait of somebody in the studio he would [music] have asked to sit.

[00:27:46]>> Um but every Monday morning I'd skip into work and I go, "What what am I going to see now? What am I going to see now?" And I'd always see something exciting.

[00:27:53]>> I know.

[00:27:58]Well, Paul, we're out in the back of your house in your garden and uh we have here, would you like to tell us what these pictures represent and who they are by?

[00:28:07]>> Well, the these are Sunny Pinchup Pong's paintings that I've collected over the the years. Um, I suppose we're in the garden gallery, >> the sunny of pinchup pon gallery. Yeah.

[00:28:18]>> And I mean, you ask me why, what inspires me to paint, what keeps me, you know, motivated. And it's these pictures. These pictures, just look at the color. Look.

[00:28:28]>> I know. Absolutely beautiful.

[00:28:29]>> You know, >> they're not it's not the type of picture you see normally. The color. I mean, here in in Ireland, you don't really see this kind of color.

[00:28:37]>> No. And it's not even the fact that I paint like this at all. I mean, it's really just it's the it's the >> it's the inspiration.

[00:28:44]>> It's the experience they're giving me, you know, and it's it's excitement. It's the colorist, but it's more than that.

[00:28:49]It's the brush strokes. It's also knowing about Sunny's history.

[00:28:53]>> Yeah.

[00:28:53]>> How committed he is as a as an artist, his journey.

[00:28:56]>> Um, >> and he's still painting. He's still painting.

[00:29:00]>> Of course, he is now. I think he's really because he's been here. He worked here in Don Blue Studios for many years.

[00:29:08]Yeah. And anytime he's been over here many times, uh, come back over on holiday and stay with us. But he, uh, he always thinks of Ireland as a second home.

[00:29:18]>> He's very fond of it. Yeah. Great time.

[00:29:20]He's always, you know, >> I think it was a great time in his life.

[00:29:22]>> It was, you know, he uh, and he's had three or four exhibitions now here >> in Ireland. The first one, I think, was 1988 >> in Dublin. And, as I said, >> sellout show, >> sellout show, sellout. And those pictures are still out there. They don't appear on the market.

[00:29:38]which is a tribute to him because people want to keep those pictures, >> you know. But I have another picture here in Norman which >> is this another opinion.

[00:29:46]>> This this is one it's actually owned by a friend of mine but um [snorts] I re I recently had a sneak peek and this is one I've never seen before.

[00:29:55]>> Look at that.

[00:29:55]>> Look at that. Look at that vanish dancer. Isn't that beautiful?

[00:30:00]>> Isn't it a masterpiece?

[00:30:02]>> Absolutely. Look at the hands and and the the way he actually has the light, >> the bracelet, the ring, the pops of color, that pop of red.

[00:30:11]>> My god. What do you think >> that that's that's a museum piece?

[00:30:14]Really, is it? It >> is, isn't it?

[00:30:16]>> Yeah. And who owns this?

[00:30:17]>> This is a friend of mine, Rusty Stole, but I've I'm minding it for him. Um, I'm quite happy to do.

[00:30:22]>> You're going to stole it from him?

[00:30:24][laughter] >> I I hope not.

[00:30:27]>> My god. Yeah, >> that must be >> a life size, Norman. That's a lifesize painting. I mean, you go into a museum and you see a sergeant >> or that that is a sergeant >> or Yeah. Yeah. Again, it has all the brush strokes, everything we talked about in one in one picture.

[00:30:41]>> So, this is the master from uh Thailand, our mentor Sonia Pinchupon Yang. Just to get the name straight, [laughter] what do you think of that?

[00:30:56][music] >> [music] [music] [music]