A colourful record of West Cork villages

A fascination with old houses, and the lives lived within their walls, prompted artist Avril McDermott to paint the towns and villages of west Cork.

She arrived in the region as a visitor in a campervan, but later, buying a house, she saw everything from dilapidated townhouses to remote peninsular cottages. The traditional use of bright colours captured McDermott’s eye, the winding streets flanked by rows of houses nestled among the dips and troughs of the countryside, higgledy piggledy.

The Dublin native bought in a sturdy terraced pile in the centre of the picturesque fishing village of Union Hall. She painted her house a controversial shade of bright yellow. “I just decided that I wanted the most ignorant colour I could find. People used to stop and go, ‘that’s lovely’ or ‘oh, it’s horrible’. But at least it’s a landmark, people know I’m here.”

No one is sure of the origin of painting houses in bright colours. One theory is that fishermen used what was left over from painting their boats.

McDermott’s earnings as a painter were faltering amid the recession. So she produced a book. Time and Place includes 29 oil paintings of towns and villages, from Eyeries to Inishannon, that share a theme.

McDermott began with a map of Ireland, then travelled in the early mornings to catch the colourful village vistas, before their sleeping occupants woke up.

“I was trying to capture the villages from the best vantage point, to make the best of them. Some of the places are tiny, but just so gorgeous,” she says. The book, with an initial print run of 1,000, is making an impact.

Writer and local historian, Ann O’Connor, who lives across the bay in her own old-world cottage, near Leap, provided the text to accompany each painting in the book.

Her skilful contributions trace a whistle-stop history of each of the towns and villages, with geographical snippets, landmark buildings and a translation of the Irish place names.

Of her home village of Leap, O’Connor writes of the origins of the still popular catchphrase, ‘beyond the Leap, beyond the law.’ The name is derived from a leap, on horseback, over a deep ravine separating the baronies of East Carbery and West Carbery, by a member of the O’Donovan clan.

Time and Place is McDermott’s first book and took six months to complete. It marks a departure from her previous life, when she juggled her career as an artist with motherhood, including caring for her elderly parents and her son, Daniel, who died aged seven. The book includes a poignant poem dedicated to his memory.

The poem contains a line that reveals McDermott’s perspective as a result of her loss, her abandonment of fear of the unknown, ‘to take each challenge unseen.’ She’s found a new home in West Cork.

“The scenery is breathtaking. People are friendly. It’s a laid back way of life. Nobody gets too excited about anything. It’s a lovely place to live; you feel like you are on a constant holiday,” she says.