06/06/2026
Here are a few photos of my Buncrana mural work since completion and after having recently given it a protective varnish.
It was certainly a major project I undertook. Having to think of ways to cover wall space of approximately 8 x 120 feet (!) was both artistically stimulating and somewhat daunting as well, at times even nerve-racking and mentally exhausting. If it goes very wrong on that kind of scale then, ...well, that thought is a bit terrifying to a poor little artist, I can tell you. You have to do justice to all that space you have left your mark on, and so it had better have been worthwhile.
The idea was to use the wall sections between the doors as window-like frames in a sequence and by means of those create the progression of themes using visually connecting devices and movement.
It begins with the seagull spreading its wings to take off above the Marina, the vertical element of the boat's masts directing the eyes upwards while also suggesting something of a cage-like confinement from which a youthful spirit seeks to break free, which then leads into a Regatta Day theme on the Lough where bouyant sail boats are arranged in a long horizontal rhythmic pattern where colours and shapes are intended to convey an invigorating feeling of exhilarating, energetic activity with the patterns of the sky as well as the water also providing echoes of the same uplifting sensation.
The next two sections present more tranquil scenes; one of Portagh Bay with a single house nestled near a shore path and a solitary handglider high in the sky above the empty beach, followed by a view of Fort Dunree, a sailboat out on the sea, and a row of empty flagpoles atop the fort (repeating symmetrically the same visual effect in the Marina masts). Both these last two scenes have a somewhat daydream-like quality. That concludes one side of the passageway.
Directly across from this last image, the opposing series of murals commences with a depiction of the Buncrana Corn Mills, now in disuse and in a sad state of decline, by which I have introduced the theme of the town's industrial and architectural legacy. The image of the old, redundant buildings flanked by two bridges spanning the Mill River, with the river itself flowing endlessly and energetically over the rocks in the foreground naturally lent itself to a simple and visually arresting symmetrical design.
By contrast, and continuing the subject of architecture and bridges, the second major section on this side is taken up with another view of Lough Swilly (directly facing the Swilly Regatta scene) now glimpsed through the six arches of Castle Bridge spanning River Crana and providing another extensive horizontal pattern of 'windows', though here serene and reflective in mood, with one contemplative figure looking down from the bridge toward a crouching grey heron perched on a rock. This leads into the final section of wall (which oddly is the first that meets you as you enter), containing a slightly ethereal image of the O' Doherty Keep in Swan Park standing on the bank of the Crana, and beside it a rising, meandering path through a wood of leafless trees and saplings, and with a distant solitary walker making his way towards an unseen and light-filled shore path.
I hope that I have been able, as I intended, to open up the confined space imaginatively, or as one lady observing it commented 'It brings the outside inside', and to have done so in a way that is visually coherent and satisfying to visitors.
