This article is from page 34 of the 2008-09-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 34 JPG
AN Ennistymon banker has packed in his ledgers and calculator in fa- vour of the artist’s easel and is now starting to make waves in the world ODay ore nenlwetee
After giving up a senior role with the AIB just over a year ago, Michael Hanrahan has quickly forged a repu- tation for himself as a budding artis- Wem E-NCoonl
Michael, who is about to take up a studio at the Courthouse Gallery Stu- dios in Ennistymon, will this month form a central part of the latest Do- lan Art Auction which takes place in the Marriott Hotel in Galway on
September 30.
‘I was always interested in painting and drawing, even from when I was a young man at the Ennistymon CBS, art was my favourite subject,’ said Mr Hanrahan.
“So after 37 years with the bank, I took early retirement back in 2006. Banking is a very high pressure busi- ness and I really wanted to give the painting a try. I felt I had some talent at it and I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to get out there and put in plenty time at it.”
Michael has just completed a sum- mer residence at the Burren Col- lege of Art in Ballyvaughan and has painted extensively around the Clare
countryside.
“Tm a landscape painter really and I’m a realist – I paint what I see. I love the colours, I love the changing moods of Ireland – the sunlight and the shade,’ he said.
“I love painting around Clare. I’ve painted in Ballyvaughan, Lahinch, Liscannor and in Ennistymon. I’ve done a number of painting in En- nistymon actually, I love the shop fronts up there.
“The art auctions are great. The general public is allowed to view all the works for a number of days be- fore the auction, they can just walk into the hotel and see what they like. But then the auction starts and they
just hold up your work and people bid. There is no name given with the paintings so the works really have to stand on their own two feet.
‘The people at Dolans do a fantas- tic job and they give great encour- agement to emerging artists like myself.”
For more information about his work contact Michael on 086 8251550 of e-mail mphanrahan55 @hotmail. com or preview some of the paint- ings on www.dolansart.com.