2012 is shaping up to be a busy year indeed! ‘I was here. I lived. I loved.’ is now installed in Market Square Studios in Lisburn, Northern Ireland where it will remain on display for the rest of the month of April. The exhibition received fantastic reviews where comments generated were, ‘I was here. I lived. I loved….I understand’ and ‘Powerful images and startling colour convey rawness and richness of Africa.’ Steps are now being taken to see that a self arranged residency happens this year in 2012 where the intent is to return to Kenya and build upon notions and ideas that were started in May and June 2011.
Plans are currently being made for a considerable piece of work being created out of Dublin City in Ireland. More details will follow in the coming months but for now this short note about it will have to be enough of a suggestion of what is down the line this year.
New work has already begun. And with almost two sketchbooks packed with new drawings a new body of painting will be started very very soon. Excitement is really in the air as this work will encompass ideas and notion that have never been explored in my work before. I will be creating painting relating to my home place and country and where I fit within.
Spontaneous head combustion- sketch. pen on paper. 1 April 2012
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New YouTube CHANNEL IS HERE where you can hear recorded snapshots about my work and painting
March 2012 seen the run of ‘I was here. I lived. I loved’ in the Waterfront Hall, one of the largest establishments, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was a new exhibition of painting based on an incredible time spend in Kenya in 2011. Filling over 150 feet of space the exhibition consisted of large scale paintings and a number of smaller paintings.
With a busy opening reception on the 1st March, countless times of meeting with people to discuss the exhibition, with new mindset towards a painterly life and having greater understanding of the notions which lie behind the works, a more confident and coherent way forward is imminent with new painting.
The exhibition had on display a wide range of paintings encompassing many emotions, different visual reference and reality mixed with that touch of imagination. ‘I was here. I lived. I loved’ is a significant marker in my career as a painter so far. It felt in some regards like the first exhibition I ever had on display even though its the 5th solo to date.
Tin can runway. oil/canvas. 122x152cm. 2012
To keep posted of future progress, to see all relevant material regarding the latest exhibition and daily updates link to my FACEBOOK page. New work and ideas have already started and a new body of painting will be under way in the coming weeks. New work will focus on the relationship formed with Northern Ireland.
Please come along to the Waterfront and see what I am hoping will be an exciting show!
Time is quickly approaching the 1st March 2012, which is when a new exhibition of painting, I Was Here. I Lived. I loved, opens at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast. Works are influenced by the incredible time I spent in Kenya, Africa in May and June of 2011.
Abstract Colour Field Orange Space. mixed/canvas. 100x75cm. 2011
There will be an opening reception taking place on Thursday 1st March 2012 at the Waterfront Hall Gallery 2 between 7-9pm. Feel free to come down and see the new painting and say hello. To keep posted just go to my Facebook Artist Page to keep up to date with the latest news and happenings.
Efforts will be made to begin to raise funds for a return research residency to Kenya in 2012. I want to return to where I began teaching drawing skills to youth. I want to develop this and introduce them to paint and teach business skills. This is also a big chance to dive deeper into my own practice and explore what makes my painting tick. With the seven weeks I originally spend in Kenya, my mind was opened up like a rusty old box would be opened revealing the most beautiful diamonds! Now I want to learn how to cut those diamonds into shape. I will be raffling two paintings off over the course of the exhibition and any money generated from catalogue sales will held fund my journey back to Kenya.
Giraffe looking at the sun. mixed/canvas. 48x64cm. 2012
Hope to see you at the exhibition. To see the event listing visit here…. I was here. I lived. I loved.
I am still trying to absorb the generosity of people in this world! I am about to give my friends in Kenya, who I taught to draw, a platform to show their work from! I will be creating a publication to alongside my next exhibition in the Waterfront Hall in March 2012 which will be about my painting, the journey through Kenya, the work they are creating and writing by certain writers in KCC village! I have been raising funds for the last 3 weeks on Fund It and yesterday smashed to the top in quite a dramatic manner! … with still 3 weeks left on the timer for people to donate if they wish towards the project! Click the blue words above to take you directly to the site!
I am excited for my next exhibition and I have two and a half months to complete the work and then one month to make sure the publication is ready in time! So it is well and truly game on! If you are interested in the finding out more about the painting as it unravels go here… Clinton Kirkpatrick Artist.
New work is finished and delivered and is now waiting for the Emer Gallery opening which will be taking place on the 8th December 2011 on the Antrim Road in Belfast. So be sure to come along if you can!! The photo below is one of my new paintings called ‘Abstract Colour Field Yellow Squiggle’. Mixed media on canvas. 2011
On 10th October 2011 I will be once again visiting the ever delightful Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Southern Ireland! I was awarded a residency by the Lisburn Arts Advisory Committee this year and well lets face it… I cannot wait to return to this enchanting place! TGC is the most wonderful artists retreat where there is an energy like no other. It is where I will be going to get (more) creative and hopefully complete a body of work which will be for the upcoming solo exhibition in the Waterfront Hall in Belfast in March 2012.
Tyrone Guthrie Centre on a crisp winter morning January 2011
Some of the drawings I made the last time I visited the TGC at the beginning of this year
I want to work on a series of new drawings which will go on display for the first time in March. I am hoping that they help me solidify the ideas I have for some of the paintings not yet started. So I will be sure to keep posted of my time there this October. Pencils, pens and paper at the ready! I will get a post here showing my progress and some of the drawings I make. Until then…
Just to let you all know that the website is back up and running ! 
HOORAH! I have been so busy of late and so have much news to start posting up on this news feed, now that the site is back in operation! So keep tuned….
I am working to towards a group show in the Emer Gallery in December this year, a solo in the Waterfront Hall in March 2012, I am off on a residency to the Tyrone Guthrie Centre on Monday 10th October 2011, and also back facilitating on the Shankill Road in Belfast! I will be once again regularly updating you with the news and pics of all the biz!
This is a snapshot of MOI in my studio from August 2011 when I was getting stuck into my first 6 footer for the coming exhibition in the Waterfront next March 2012.
Over and out peeps!
