Military trees feted our approach to the Champenois capital. We were far from the swathes of fir and silver birch whose moss-softened under-storeys had offered us their intimate welcome over the post-equinox weekend. I thought of the first time I had heard of the Ardennes forest -in silvam Arduennam- Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars VI. Caesar was too full of ambition and strategy to look at what was around him. Enough was never enough. And I was too anxious about my grades in Latin to really think about what was being said in the texts to be translated. Yet here I was in the very same forest where all trace of battle, told and untold, good deeds and bad, had sunk under the roots such silent trees, hushed by the patter of raindrops and fallen leaves.
By the time daylight was waning, the Ardennes had long since given way to fields smoothed featureless and desolate by agricultural efficiency and the first buildings of the Réamois suburbs were breaking though the horizon. We talked of dinner and our return to Paris.

So pleased with Briona Gallagher's article written for the Irish Examiner on line  She came to the studios with a little camera and really got what we are about so quickly..If you take a look at the video, you might see work you recognise! 
​http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsfilmtv/public-invited-to-sample-a-world-of-art-behind-abandoned-walls-386273.html

When Gerald Heffernan and Emer ni Chiobhaín started pulling together the idea of forming a studio group in the empty government office building in Sullivan's Quay,Cork, it was only envisaged that Sample-Studios would run for a year but here we are 5 years later and  twice as big! Sample-Studios was officially founded on 11th Mar 2011 with just Ger, Emer and myself as its directors: Chairman, Company Secretary and Treasurer respectively. We scratched our signatures on the documents and then set off to make our name in the city. Now the studios are in the capable hands of Aideen Quirke, whose artistic direction has brought us on another level. With around 65 studios and 80+ artists, both performing and visual, the place is abuzz with ideas and significant collaborations begin over a cup of tea. Starting one of Ireland's biggest studios has been a progressive learning process but so well worth it.
​So now to mark the occasion, we have organised something for everybody in our birthday party next week, kicking off with the exhibition opening of our residency prize artist, Andrew McSweeney in the Tactic gallery on Thursday night and including family oriented workshops on Sunday. All events are listed on the Sample-Studios website http://www.sample-studios.com/events.html​

It's time for the demise of my 2012 piece "You never know what Life may bring", I need the cable for my cable portraits. But every cloud has a silver lining and I''m getting to revisit other parts of the piece too.

What a fab day at SynBio Future 2016 Conference:Future Axioms in synthetic biology, listening to so many people with so many ideas for improving lives. A special shout for Bethan Wolfenden from Bento Lab who are putting out for crowd funding from 21st March. How could anyone not want at least one in each room and one for the car? http://www.bento.bio/

you might see things a little differently

Today, 09 February 2016, is the day when the Monkey meets the Hare. Kung Hee Fatt Choy to all! Lucky colours for the Year of the Monkey are blue, white and gold and accordingly, Mr Usagi Hare is sporting his most auspicious coat. The main blue hue is based on Colortrend's "Inkwell" which has that subtly beautiful quality of changing with the ambient light, ranging from an almost imperial purple to a mysterious Prussian blue black. Their clear gloss varnish has given him a really touchable glassy lacquered finish.. and Mr Usagi Hare quite likes his ears to be rubbed.
Right now, you'll find him at Powerscourt Centre but he will go over to the CHQ building on the 29th - most fittingly that's the leap day!

If you'd like to bid for this hare, please go to the following link
​Jack and Jill Foundation "Hares on the March" fundraising event

Each combination of DNA creates a world of possibilities; combinations of people walking down a given street at a given time, combinations of atoms and sub particles to make new molecules. All over the universe, possibilities of every size and hue open and close like a huge, breathing matrix within which we exist like little particles, scudding from one channel to the next.

After a timely call from Tania Clarke Hall (London-based designer of leather jewelry), I found myself standing in agreeably clear morning coolness outside Islington's Business Design Centre as she arrived on her pink Brompton bicycle. There was a little buzz as last minute works were being brought in to the London Art Fair and we were enjoying that behind-the-scene sensation that you get when you get to an event slightly early. There were many things to see but here are my top 3 artists

.My absolute favourite work was by Korean artist Kwang Young Chun whose work has a mesmerising intricacy in both surface and volume. Some art is best viewed at a certain proximity but Kwang Young Chun's pieces give the eye something to savour both from close up and from afar.

Second up was Kazuhito Takadoi (Jaggedart Art Gallery), whose works of gently coaxed twigs and grasses were at once airy and intimate.

Third was Oliver Barratt (Beardsmore Gallery). I found his work has a tactile gaiety that was simply appealng

Now. I'm saying 1-2-3 as if it is a ranking but really, it's more the order in which I would buy the work, pipedream-wise. So if anyone out there wants to buy my work for me to fund these purchases...