A few months back I was asked to do a painting of Glenbeigh, Co.Kerry by a neighbour who now lives in Cork but is originally from Glenbeigh. She knows that I am from Kerry so that the subject would be close to my heart. Needless to say I was delighted to accept and happily set off to search out the most appealing aspect of this corner of 'the Kingdom'.
It is an area that I know relatively well as my brother worked there for a number of years. It has many beautiful remote spots as you head up into the mountains and explore the hills and valleys around Caragh Lake.
I felt that the best known part of Glenbeigh is by the beach in Rossbeigh so I focused my search in the hills overlooking the bay - Dingle Bay. Eventually I settled on the view from the top of Knockatinna. It gives a lovely view of the waves breaking onto the beach at Rossbeigh and the land as it stretches out along Rossbeigh Creek with Glenbeigh village tucked in under the mountains. Seefin mountain (1,621 feet) looms in the background and the Macgillycuddy Reeks are just out of view on the right hand side. If you were to continue on out to the left along the beach, climbing the sandbanks as you go, you would reach the farthest out point of Rossbeigh beach where you can look across the water to Inch Point on the other side. From your vantage point on the sandhills you would be looking down on Dooks Golf links and Castlemaine Harbour.
Knockatinna Hill gave me a panoramic view of this spectacular part of Kerry with views towards Castlemaine and Killorglin to the east, Inch strand and the Dingle peninsula directly across the water (in a northerly direction) from me and westwards along the rugged cliffs and hills that skirt the Ring of Kerry as it winds its towards Cahirsiveen.
Rossbeigh is a stretch of beach and land that is very popular with walkers, swimmers, horse-riders and golfers.
Even though it was April I was blessed with a beautiful sunny day which gave bright clear light on the scene beneath me.
There were beautiful shades of blue and green in the seawater and the light catches the white of the waves as they break on the shore. The soft colour of the sand adds brightness to the scene and it matches well with the colours on the mountains in the background.
It is a scene that I greatly enjoyed painting as it captured an idyllic day in Kerry with the beauty of the land, sea and mountains all around.
It particularly pleased me to learn that she was giving this painting to her daughter in law who has emigrated to Australia. It will act as a reminder of the many happy summer days spent on the beach in Rossbeigh when she was a child.
It is an area that I know relatively well as my brother worked there for a number of years. It has many beautiful remote spots as you head up into the mountains and explore the hills and valleys around Caragh Lake.
I felt that the best known part of Glenbeigh is by the beach in Rossbeigh so I focused my search in the hills overlooking the bay - Dingle Bay. Eventually I settled on the view from the top of Knockatinna. It gives a lovely view of the waves breaking onto the beach at Rossbeigh and the land as it stretches out along Rossbeigh Creek with Glenbeigh village tucked in under the mountains. Seefin mountain (1,621 feet) looms in the background and the Macgillycuddy Reeks are just out of view on the right hand side. If you were to continue on out to the left along the beach, climbing the sandbanks as you go, you would reach the farthest out point of Rossbeigh beach where you can look across the water to Inch Point on the other side. From your vantage point on the sandhills you would be looking down on Dooks Golf links and Castlemaine Harbour.
Knockatinna Hill gave me a panoramic view of this spectacular part of Kerry with views towards Castlemaine and Killorglin to the east, Inch strand and the Dingle peninsula directly across the water (in a northerly direction) from me and westwards along the rugged cliffs and hills that skirt the Ring of Kerry as it winds its towards Cahirsiveen.
Rossbeigh is a stretch of beach and land that is very popular with walkers, swimmers, horse-riders and golfers.
Even though it was April I was blessed with a beautiful sunny day which gave bright clear light on the scene beneath me.
There were beautiful shades of blue and green in the seawater and the light catches the white of the waves as they break on the shore. The soft colour of the sand adds brightness to the scene and it matches well with the colours on the mountains in the background.
It particularly pleased me to learn that she was giving this painting to her daughter in law who has emigrated to Australia. It will act as a reminder of the many happy summer days spent on the beach in Rossbeigh when she was a child.
