Uisce Anam

For many years of my life I have lived beside lake water, either Lough Erne in Co. Fermanagh or The Annaghmakerrig lake in Co. Monaghan. Uisce Anam is Irish Gaelic for soul water. This is the title of the series of water colour paintings I did whilst swimming every day in the lake beside my home.

Being alone, in the emptiness of that treacle water lake, accompanied only by the occasional cormorant and a few swans, was the ideal setting for deep soul reflection. It rained mostly every day for several of the weeks, the clouds could be low and then suddenly a shaft of brilliant sunshine would light up the water and my soul.

Sometimes I felt like the atmosphere, cloudy, misty, unclear as to the direction I should take. Other days the sky was blue, bright and life seemed full of gentle possibility.