From Cowshed to Art gallery, episode 3…

16th of May.

The first swallows arrived at last, on the 29th of April. It’s always a precious moment to welcome them, Summer is coming !
Oooops, it also means that time is suddenly shrinking between now and the gallery’s opening ! From now on the schedule is getting seriously tighter, as we decided on the date of the big opening : The First of July !

After the completion of the new roof (see episode 2), the main next concern was … the entrance ! For safety reasons, we wanted the door to be at the back of the gallery (the shed’s original door is on the road side). It would also open to the green view and quiet area to enjoy the opening’s bubbles !…
There was an original opening on that back wall, I guess it was used to bring in hay or straw to the 8 cows in the shed. This opening though was not high enough to fit in a door . And touching the structure of that old stone wall seemed a bit challenging ! But it was a no brainer for Ger Gerome, our local stone mason, who magically did the job in a jiffy !

All we have to do now is wait for the new door to be delivered, let’s hope it comes before July !

2 big jobs left, the floor and the walls…

The original shed floor was made of different patches of concrete, with the old channel for cow poo. It took Richie and Neil 3 days, a solid back, and lots of sweat to break it down to a level that would allow to fit some layer of insulation . Sure they didn’t need to go to the gym that week to stay fit !

Once the space was clear, Richie ordered a ready-made load of concrete and another talented villager, Joe Rua (another solid back!) patiently polished the surface by extraordinary hand tools, again and again, until no bubbles popped up on the perfectly flat and smooth floor. Fascinating to watch !

On the gable of the shed, the sign for “food at O’Neills” has come down after a good few years of good service, and I am now working at projects for the new gallery logo/sign…

Oh, of course… Here is another big step since episode 2…
The gallery has now a name!…
“8 cows gallery”…
A nod to the past… The shed was the milking parlour for 8 cows. For the anecdote, Tommy and Willy, the brothers farmers, always had exactly 16 dairy cows. 8 were milked in this shed, the other 8 in what has been our house since 2005!…

It’s always heartwarming to see how in a small community, not only do we have lots of talented people like Ger, Joe, and Carina ( see later in this post), but as I said before, the precious support and encouragements of everybody around . And they all seem to have adopted straight away the idea of “8 cows gallery” !…
Richie and Neil are now working on the interior walls, studs and insulation, not sure yet of what they will layer them with… Something that can take nails and screws!… I’ll tell you all about it in the next episode !

Soon I will be able to take part in the building working team, when it comes to painting the walls and taking care of the finishing details…

Meanwhile, in my kitchen-studio, beside messing about the logo, I kept busy with some more mounts, frames, prints ordering, and more admin work for the event … Definitely not my favourite side of an artist job, but Carina Jeisy, our local writer and journalist is an amazing help !….
I also fitted a more ”in-my-comfort-zone” activity into my schedule: a few new watercolour works, for my next show at the Allihies Copper mines Museum, starting on July 23rd ! !!!

Like a reward, I enjoyed gardening here and then, and took a day out, bringing some paintings to be displayed at Cleo gallery, Kenmare, Adrigole Arts , Pink umbrella gallery Eyeries!..

Our house is blooming with energy and projects, Tom studying hard for his final exams, Neil and Richie making more muscles as the gallery takes shape…

I love the way the evolution of our project seems to match with the season, around us everything is growing, grass and weeds, birds are building their nests, apple trees are blooming, and the vegetable garden has started feeding us ( yes, more creative cooking !…) .
Spring is really my favourite season…

In the next episode, I hope to reveal the logo of “ 8 cows” !

Meanwhile, here is one of the paintings of “Tommy’s house” show, more to see in Episode 4… And of course, all of them on the 1st of July at “8 cows gallery” !…

Nadette