This exhibition, opening on Yeats Day in Sligo (Wednesday 13th June @ 6pm) is in celebration of the poetry of WB Yeats. Each year the gallery invite a large number of contemporary artists to submit a painting (20cm x 20cm) in response to one of his poems. The diversity of the response never fails to amaze me. We all see, feel and find inspiration in infinite ways. It is my third invitation to take part in the exhibition and opening night is something I look forward to each year with anticipation.

This year the poem selected is: 

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
W. B. Yeats, 1865 – 1939

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public man, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

This was my response:

‘From Air to Earth and Back Again’, Oil on Canvas, 20cm x 20cm, 2018