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Hidden behind trees and up a well-travelled avenue on the Wexford/Wicklow border, you will find Jacinta Crowley-Long, her husband Roger and their four dogs. Jacinta is a well-known contemporary artist who specialises in canine and equestrian art. It’s easy to see where she gets her inspiration from as their home is surrounded by nature with ponies in the fields ahead and mountains and trees everywhere you look.
Childhood memory
When you are young you learn the basic colours like blue and green, but for Jacinta she was encouraged by her father to look closer at the colours and with him she took impromptu weekend lessons which have stayed with her ever since.
“My father painted on the weekends and he used to take me out on a little bicycle. We had to go on a bicycle so that we would see everything.
“He used to stop and he would sketch. I would sit with him and he would ask me, ‘What colour is that tree?’ As a child you would say it’s brown or it’s green. He would say ‘No, look closer, see the colours. Can you see the cerulean blue?’ I had all these words when I was younger like cerulean blue and burnt sienna in the tree trunks. Trees weren’t just brown and green they had great colours.”
Art and science
Although not recommended, almost every child in school has doodled in their schoolbooks, Jacinta was no different.
“I was always painting and drawing all over my schoolbooks. Mainly they would be horses or dogs because that’s what I really like to do.”
Despite the artistic flair and influence, would you believe Jacinta didn’t study art in school nor college? She studied all science subjects but explains that this benefited her.
“It is very good for your painting. I did zoology and botany, majoring in botany. In zoology there was anatomy and in botany you were drawing everything.”
She then went on to complete a PhD in University College Cork (UCC) on the mode of action of round-up and looked at membrane permeability. Still during this time, Jacinta was always painting in the background.
“I then lectured in UCC for about 10 years in the botany department. I was the first female PhD out of the botany department in UCC. It was a big thing.”
Jacinta and Roger moved to Wicklow when Roger’s company relocated and Jacinta continued to lecture and paint for a while.
Process
Jacinta typically prepares the canvas herself. She buys French linen and makes up her own canvases so that she isn’t restricted to an ordinary size.
“I always do an underpainting. I think it’s important because when you do an underpainting in water colour you sort out all the problems and figure out what goes where.”
Once she is happy with the underpainting, then Jacinta will start in with the oils.
“You can keep the oils really fresh because you’re not making all those decisions with the paint. You have it all planned with your underpainting.”
The length of time it takes to create one of her masterpieces usually takes from six weeks to two months to create and the time can depend a lot on the paint colours she chooses.
“Some colours will dry faster than others. All the brown earthy colours will dry faster, but your white, blues and yellows are divils for drying, so everything is drying at different rates.
“I start with the dark colours. I have them up the attic drying. In the morning I will go up and feel them to see if they’re dry. Then you have you medium tones and then you finish with your highlights.”
When it’s completely dry, Jacinta varnishes or glazes the piece.
“I especially glaze when I’m doing a horse so I can show off it’s lovely shiny coat. The colour comes up and goes down on the muscles.”
The weather can also impact how soon you can get your hands on a commissioned piece of art. In the winter the paint dries slower than in the summer.
Commissions
Commissions are a large part of the work Jacinta does. From small head studies of dogs to animal and human portraiture.
“I get to go around all the racing yards and even the National Stud and meet all of these beautiful animals. I would be looking at them and say, ‘Oh they’ve won this or that’. And they’re just nuzzling my face as I’m drawing.”
A group of friends arranged a commission to be done of their friend’s dog as an anniversary gift
People can go to great lengths to keep a commission a secret from their loved ones. Jacinta has many stories of visiting animals while their owners are otherwise occupied.
“A group of friends arranged a commission to be done of their friend’s dog as an anniversary gift. The couple went shopping and the friends made provisions for opening a window in the conservatory.
“I was let into the conservatory with a look out outside. I had to take photographs and the poor dog was growling. He wasn’t going to let me past to conservatory into the house. I got great shots of him.”
She made a quick getaway before the owners returned and prepared the painting for it’s grand reveal.
For more information see her website.
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