Strolling Through the City
This series comes from walks through Dublin that I take with my husband. We don’t really plan them. We just go out, walk the city, visit galleries, streets, shops, look through windows, take small detours. Most of the time, the walk ends in a pub.
The pubs in these paintings are places we already know or places we stumble upon and decide to try. Often it’s a Sunday. Often it’s about whether the place feels okay. As a gay couple, choosing where to go is never completely neutral. There is always a quiet check: can we walk in, sit down, exist, without tension? You don’t always talk about it, but your body knows.
Some of the paintings show the moment before going in, or just before the pub opens. The doors sometimes are still closed, but the street is active, and you’re waiting. That waiting matters to me. It’s a small stretch of time where nothing dramatic happens, but a lot is felt. Once inside, we usually sit by the window if we can, order Guinness, talk, and watch people pass. Locals, tourists, regulars. The city keeps moving while we pause.
These are not big stories. They’re ordinary moments. But they hold intimacy, comfort, and a sense of being okay to be there. The paintings come from paying attention to those moments, and to how walking, stopping, and choosing places slowly builds a relationship with a city. Public spaces become personal. Routine turns into something like a ritual. This work is about moving through the city together, and finding places where we can sit, talk, and feel okay.
Before the Swan Opens (2025)
Oil on canvas
60 x 80 x 4.5 cm
