This is where it all started, for me; not everything, I mean, but this is the first way I hoped to sell my artwork through the World Wide Web.
In the late 1990's I was doing plenty of artwork with digital tools. Although it had been ten years or more since I'd been a painter it still bothered me that I no longer had originals. The work I did now seemed ephemeral when I compared it with the solid reality of the paintings I used to make.
It took a few more years to find a way to offer these prints. They've joined all my other merchandise now and I'm very happy that they're here.
are priced slightly higher.
The Offogerty harp is a wire strung Irish (or Celtic) harp that dates from the 17th century. These instruments have a magical, ringing voice with a long sustain; their sound lies somewhere between a harpsichord and a bell.
This is a print of my digital painting of the Offogerty Harp - it’s 16 by 20 inches in size at 300 DPI, and the image is based on a photograph from Robert Bruce Armstrong’s The Irish and Highland Harps. Purists may note that I have taken a couple of small liberties with the painting.
Here the harp is superimposed over a bold Celtic knotwork border; faint interlace designs also appear in the background margins and the backdrop, behind the borders.
Once the property of Cornelius O’ffogerty, this harp is of the type we call a "large, low-headed" Irish harp, which is typical of the seventeenth century. It is not highly decorated but its lines are both striking and unusual among surviving examples - the large scroll at the end of the harmonic curve is its most distinctive feature.
Its soundboard was pierced for thirty-six strings, while the harmonic curve never carried more than thirty-five tuning pins. Because only thirty-four string holes are visible in the photograph I’ve chosen to string it with thirty-four strings - hopefully not further adding to the confusion.