Kevin McSherry hand painted and digital creative Illustration, Art and Storyboards

A very satisfying and enjoyable project reached its conclusion last Friday. The Director of the Alliance Française, Philippe Milloux, has just completed his term at the Alliance and is moving on to an even more exalted position in Paris. I think it's very useful to show you something of the planning, care and attention to that what went into it from me and the group of his colleagues who clubbed together to commission this art.

As usual, in preparation for the composition, I interviewed his colleagues and tried to get a picture of how he could be best represented. Part of the work that Philippe carried out over the last few years was to restructure the Alliance and make sure it remains a healthy and vibrant institution into the future. Happily, I also discovered that he has always had an interest in car mechanics and has been fixing them since he was ten years old, since his father was a car mechanic.

My objective with these artworks is to make a gift that is unique, imaginative a…

An open .    Monday November 30. 2015

Reproduced from the 'Our Community' page in the top menu.

I'm writing an open letter because you're almost impossible to find.  I think it's vital that the environment in which we live contains art. We have plenty of places to eat. We can drink buckets of coffee. There are lots of shops where we can buy provisions. We have great pubs, enough accountants and enough solicitors and many estate agents. We all live together and share this locality.

What we have very little of is Beauty in our environment. Why not do what you can to make this place look better.  Little things matter a great deal: just take a look at what Terenure Office Supplies do with their fabulous window displays for the children around Christmas and other significant occasions during the year. Magnificent. They deserve our full support.

This does matter. This activity brings joy -and that's what will motivate people to turn up to our village centre and maybe ev…

The best place to start with a project like this is the café. Rathmines, inevitably; in the calming surrounds of Café Moda. Of course I forgot my sketchbook, so I had to run in to the Swan Centre to find a cheap one -and a pen.

This is more or less how I approach any applied art project. I used to just write lists of words which may or may not lead me to an idea. In recent years, I find this a better way of generating at least something. In the end, I went for a bird theme with a peacock, as you can hopefully see in the third picture. I'm in an avian groove! I should start tweeting a bit more...

I used a posca marker for that white line. I felt I needed to see how it will work at full size on the instrument itself. As you can see, it's now completely covered with a spay-coat. This will just serve as a toned ground on which to work.

Oh and by the way, I've just invested in a new airbrush! Yup. I had one many years ago when I used to paint murals on scooters. I just can'…

I received a communiqué [well -a comment] from somebody who asked why I'd stopped posting to this blog recently. 'Tis true -I have only posted seven times in the whole of this year.

To Anonymous. The reasons for my lethargy were that I thought no-one was reading this stuff, for a start; so that's one reason! It's truly gratifying when I discover that someone is listening to my outpourings -especially when the comments are as cheering as yours. Thank you.

More importantly though, I've been through some challenging times, shall we say, along with many. First, a sudden and dramatic fall-off in editorial illustration work forced me to rethink how I should be directing my efforts; and really about how I should be living my life. What's true is that I had become increasingly dissatisfied with life as a jobbing illustrator and there are several strands to this: The constant but fruitless promotional efforts [I had a database of well over a thousand two hundred names t…

I've just read Marketing Magazine and saw the reference to Michael O'Doherty's Sunday Times interview. I didn't read the original article unfortunately. O'Doherty is quoted as saying that the one thing he'd change in Irish tax system is the artists' exemption. "Seriously", he's quoted a saying, "why is it that someone who writes a crap book doesn't have to pay tax, simply because they have a beard, whereas a team of well-groomed people who produce a brilliant magazine, do?".
I do suppose that the man was joking [although it does start with the word 'seriously'] or else that quote would win the Double Take accolade for being, witless, peevish and ignorant all at once. I do understand that people who pay tax regularly may feel aggrieved that a whole section of the workforce seems to be treated favourably [including myself; I'm a registered artist under the exemption scheme although I do pay tax on some work]. O'Doher…

I've branched out somewhat and commenced painting classes in my studio. My inaugural class was last Tuesday morning when I had six students along and I started them off painting a single apple. My aim is to keep compositions simple, with perhaps a single object. 

I've seen many students in art classes, who may not have much experience, try to take on large compositions and become overwhelmed by the task they've set themselves. The philosophy at Art Classes Ireland is to gradually build up knowledge and confidence. The second principle is to have fun while learning -the atmosphere is relaxed and convivial. You can see the Art Classes Ireland web site here

I recently completed an illustration project for Brandever, the specialist brand developers for the global wine industry.

Brandever wished to create a series of circa 1900's fruit wine labels that celebrate the old fashioned style of Fruit Crate Label art. With ten different wines currently in production at this winery, each line would feature a different illustration produced by nine different illustrators, other than me.

This blueberry dessert wine, called Sweet Nothings, obviously suggested a love theme and I sketched out various 'love' scenarios, including a Romeo and Juliette scene and swans, the symbol of fidelity.
























You can click on the illustration below to see a reasonably sized version of the final illustration without the branding. Once you've done that, we can go and sit in my aviary and have a glass of how's yer father.

In my on-going quest to rediscover the pleasure of just painting, I blundered upon a large and growing internet-based art movement; Daily Painting. Apparently only going since 2006 as a informal, blog-based idea, it works on several levels. It's an education to see other artists' set-ups, thoughts and working practices -often along with step-by-step demonstrations and explanations of techniques. 
For the artists, it's an encouragement to practice every day. They can then sell originals by availing of several internet outlets, such as Etsy, eBay or just through the blog itself, with a link to PayPal. It's a super way for the general public to buy reasonably priced original artworks, with no gallery fees. Most of the resulting artworks are small, since they're only studies -often around 6" x 8". 
My own favourite is Peter Yesis' Daily Painting Practice. He loves to share knowledge and his good-humour and modesty comes across in his writing. Like all the d…

Agents Associé, the organisation for French artists' representatives will hold their first biennial group show in Paris's Les Arts Décoratifs-a part of Le Louvre complex. I was greatly honoured to be selected by a panel of industry jurists to exhibit three artworks for the show, which is entitled: 'Les Trésors Cachés de nos Artistes'. In other words; self-promotional, work otherwise unpublished or made purely for the pleasure of creation. The show runs for one week from 29th March to the 4th April and is located in the Louvre museum's western wing, known as the Pavillon de Marsan.

Above is one of my artworks that will be on show. I'm delighted that this was one of the chosen pieces. It was created for the promotion of the Illustrators Guild of Ireland in a postcard campaign -and it also won the Best Self-promotional Illustration gong for 2006. It fits perfectly into this exhibition and gets the message across: The craft of illustration needs a superhero to join …

We're moving towards election time again. The current issue of Marketing Magazine features one of my illustrations. The feature article describes the challenge that advertising creatives face when commissioned to create campaigns for political parties.

If you click on the above image itself, you'll see a larger version.

I want to give you an idea of the process and collaboration that ended with the illustration as it appears [a collaboration between Michael Cullen, editor of the magazine, Jamie Cullen of Dynamo and myself]. The first rough sketch is the one that we felt conveyed the message in the strongest way. Like in previous posts, there were others, but there's neither the space or the inclination on my part to show them!

Once this was accepted, I felt that the composition could be improved and made more lively. Also, I thought our creative should have the full hatchback head rather than a little back door and that we should see the brief a little more clearly.


So I submi…

First, I'd just like to wish a very happy and peaceful Christmas to both my readers!

Apparently, 'tis the season to send badly designed Christmas cards to people that you don't know very well, in the hope of generating a bit of oul' business. For, as it was once told to me by a wizened old marketing professional -you can send all the flyers you want during the course of a year but people will only remember the Christmas card.

I agree -but only if the card is worth looking at. I just received one from the garage that sold me my second-hand car seven years ago [as I have done every year since]. Although it doesn't take the gong for worst card design, it comes eye-wateringly close. There is no excuse for sending abysmal cards unless you're a graphic designer in a corduroy jacket who could say with a knowing smile, 'This card is an ironic statement'.

Seems to me that all such cards generate is indifference, or worse; enmity. If the person to whom a card is sen…

Last Friday 8th September, at the Investor Magazine Mortgage and Insurance Broker Conference and Forum in the K Club, my painting 'Tryst in the City Garden', was sold at auction for €7500. All the money raised at the auction went to the Zest 4 Kidz charity, who operate educational orphanages in many war-ravaged countries. Their web site is down at the moment, but Zest 4 Kidz can be contacted through its founder Stuart Wilson. You can see some photos of the event at Ashville's conference site: here.

Also, special thanks to the excellent John Redmond who came to the rescue by photographing the canvas in his studio.

I attached myself to a guided tour of the National Gallery of Ireland the other week and learned that even the masters made mistakes. Judas, who can be seen kissing Jesus in the composition, had his ear lowered. You can see the vague outline of the earlier version about 3/4" above the existing one. This seems at odds with Hockney's assertion that Caravaggio [amongst many others] relied on the camera obscura; unless the model he used was possessed of very high ears, of course.