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ellyj.bsky.social
Elly ☘️
@ellyj.bsky.social
320 followers 210 following 1.5K posts
🌹Belfast woman, Wife, lover
Mother to 4 big kids + 2 rescue terriers. I love books,film and music of most genres and a lot of other stuff. I live a quiet life mostly
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Reposted by Elly ☘️
eolai.bsky.social
I often get asked about my painting process. There is no one process I use all the time, but about probably 6 different ways I might start a painting, whether in studio or en plein air. Here's one way - this is "Poulnabrone II" in an early stage of progress side-by-side with the complete painting.
Two painted squares beside each other. The finished painting is on the right. It shows a megalithic portal tomb - a large flat stone slab balanced on 3 upright stones with another large slab fallen beside them closer to the viewer. Surrounding area is stone of pale blue and lilac with patches of orange grass with more orange visible across the bottom quarter. Sky is a dark smokey blue, like a grey-ish midnight blue, contrasting with the brighter parts of the tomb which are very pale lilac, close to white, except for the shadow areas which are very dark blue, darker than navy. Horizon runs across the centre of the painting with only the top half of the tomb breaking the horizon. The left square shows the same painting but in an early stage of development. The horizon is in the same place across the centre, with the sky a watered down ultramarine bright blue. The bottom quarter, where most of the orange grass is in the completed painting, is an orange ochre colour in a solid band across the full painting with a hard edge. Between the sky and orange, where the stones are in the finished painting, is all painted lilac, with some subtle brushed in blues and pinks. Painted on top of all three colour bands are a load of hard-edged very dark blue shapes, almost exactly the same shapes and locations where the navy shadows appear in the finished paintings. They represent the shadows of the large stones of the tomb and of other larger stones scattered around.
December 19, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
opwireland.bsky.social
A great start to the weekend of the winter solstice!
What a morning at Newgrange today.

The livestream link now available - be sure tune in on the morning of 21 December at 8:40am.
🔗 gov.ie/solstice 👈save it, share it, join in!

#ShareTheSolstice #NewgrangeSolstice #WinterSolstice
📸 OPW Guides
Sun rising behind a large standing stone on a grassy landscape under a clear sky at Newgrange Monument. Sun rising behind a large standing stone on a grassy landscape under a clear sky at Newgrange Monument. Sun rising behind a large standing stone on a grassy landscape under a clear sky at Newgrange Monument.
December 19, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
eolai.bsky.social
Here, have a goo at a #painting. "Wall, Donkey" came out of a time I was cycling past a donkey that was behind a dry stone wall. In fairness I've passed a lot of donkeys behind walls, but on this occasion I stopped and told my furry friend I'd be doing a painting. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtAdventCalendar
Landscape format in loose acrylics on canvas. Bottom third is a dry stone wall over which, on the right hand side, a donkey looks. Stones are a very pale yellow and lilac, with blue shading (and some touches of red) in the gaps. Donkey is pale grey-blue with almost white nose end, and is facing forward and standing by the right edge. There are touches of green in the coat of the donkey and even less of orange. The sun shines from directly above so the dark blue shadow of the head is below on its neck creating a strong contrast with the short white hairs underneath its mouth. The eyes are very dark with highlights on the lids as on the top of the back behind. Background is mid-blue where grass would be and dark blue and red above it in a speckled fashion like a bush or hedge. No signature because I took the photo before I signed it.
December 18, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
ciaraioch.bsky.social
🎁 Little daily thread of some gift ideas from me aul shop/siopa from now until d'Christmas.

This hard-working canine companion warms themself by a familiar range in this watercolour and pencil illustration of a well-loved, cosy, rural Irish kitchen.

Prints: www.ciaraioch.com/artprints/p/...
Watercolour painting in a semi-cartoon style. A sheepdog lies contentedly in front of an old Stanley range with pots and a teapot on it, surrounded by rural kitchen paraphernalia like a bucket of turf, wellies, teatowels, jams and syrup, Lotto tickets etc. A clock hangs overhead and a mouse peaks out near it. #art #ireland #spéirgorm #spéirghorm
December 5, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
eolai.bsky.social
A #painting from the west of Ireland. "Enniscrone Pubs" came out of my annual carer breaks to the County Sligo seaside town where every year magic happens. This painting was one of a series of 4, each a gift for one of the people who make that magic possible. #art #SpeirGhorm #ArtAdventCalendar
Landscape format in acrylics on canvas panel. View straight ahead up a slightly uphill village street on a pure blue sky sunny day. On the left in foreground set in off the road are 2 white 2-story pubs with slate roofs, and a road off to the left between them. Beyond them a terrace of domestic houses and gardens trails into the distance. Right side of street is in shade with buildings closer to road. From the right edge in they are orange, cream, green pale blue and pink 2-story houses. The cream building is a pub with one large window beside its 2 simple doors and its name in letters above. A modern white bell tower of a church is further up the street. Road is grey with dashed white centre line and double yellow lines at the edge. The footpaths are pale grey-green. Signed bottom right, Liam Daly
December 16, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
jpwarchaeology.bsky.social
The algorithms are making it a lot harder to spread the word about these online talks. Although numbers are still reasonable, it would be a great help if folk were able to give the 30 December event a quick share 🙂

Booking available here:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/buildings-...
December 11, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
ciaraioch.bsky.social
Imbolc (Imbolg), the festival marking the beginning of spring, has been celebrated in Ireland since ancient times. These prints are hand-finished with gold coloured lettering.

Prints: www.ciaraioch.com/artprints/p/...
Drawing of a woman with green hair blowing a flame from her hand, with the word imbolc in gold letters, placed against a photograph background of daffodils and fading sunlight. #SpéirGorm #SpéirGhorm #Ireland #Art #BuyIrish
December 15, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
ciaraioch.bsky.social
Mortifying trying to promote work at this time of year, but unfortunately it's still necessary to make a living from drawing due to a significant delay in successfully wooing a wealthy Kerry farmer and being whisked off in his John Deere to a life of diamond-encrusted wellies
ciaraioch.bsky.social Ciara | Ciaraíoch 🎨 @ciaraioch.bsky.social · 20d
📌 ciaraioch.com is now taking Christmas orders for prints, cards, and vouchers - each archival-quality print on heavy art paper is made in Ireland, ships internationally in eco-friendly packaging with discount tracked postage, and comes with a FREE card and treats for every customer 🎁 #SpéirGorm
Photograph of a display of prints, surrounded by Christmas decorations and fairy lights, against a white fluffy background #SpéirGorm #SpéirGhorm #Ireland #Art #Christmas #ArtistsOnBluesky #BuyLocal #ShopIrish Cartoon of a little rook building a snowman in the shape of a crow, and a photograph of the same image as Christmas cards against a red brick background - there's one free with every order.
December 15, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
brandtandstein.com
“The battle between technology and tradition” fuck this disingenuous bullshit it’s the battle between CREATION and THEFT
en.afp.com AFP News Agency @en.afp.com · 15d
Belfast Christmas market bans sale of AI-generated art.

In Belfast, the battle between technology and tradition is playing out at an artists’ market. Organisers of the Christmas fair have banned AI-generated artwork, insisting on "human creativity" as artificial intelligence floods the art world
December 8, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
eolai.bsky.social
Here, have a #painting. "Ballycroy" came out of an amazing day's cycle in the west of Ireland which started in Westport and ended up in Bangor Erris - the highlight of which, in a day of many highlights, was the County Mayo wonderland of Ballycroy.
#art #SpeirGhorm #ArtAdventCalendar
Landscape format in acrylic on canvas. A road coming out of the centre of the bottom of the painting heads diagonally right then bends hard left and disappears into a landscape of open bog rendered as a fiery orange with red and green bushes. In the distance on the left there is a small white cottage and behind it a large violet rocky mountain that tapers down to the right with more mountains further away on the right and coloured a light purple. A sliver of water is in front of them. The sky is a light aqua blue with long large white fluffy clouds. The road surface is dark, matching the violet of the jagged mountain on the left and contrasting with the surrounding bog and with its road markings of dashed white lines down the centre and dashed yellow lines marking the edge of the road. The bog has pinks and yellows peppered throughout and more colours along the road edges where there are small ridges and or ditches with touches of yellows and grey-greens. Signed bottom left, Liam Daly
December 5, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
bing44.bsky.social
Would never have happened in Tom Bakers day!🤬
December 5, 2025 at 11:19 AM
ellyj.bsky.social
My beautiful friend is taking part in this. She was so supportive when my husband was going through it. Any support or shares appreciated
fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/christi...
Christine's Giving Page
Thanks for visiting my fundraising page. I’m going to be taking on the 12 Dips of Christmas Challenge this December to help raise money for Cancer Research UK. Please show your support and help fund l...
fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org
November 26, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
eolai.bsky.social
Another west of Ireland #painting. "Connemara Montbretia" I painted because I like mountains and the spaces between them. And I really like bogs. And grasses. And wildflowers, even invasive ones. And sometimes when you're lucky they're all just there. #SpeirGhorm #art #scape #ArtYear
Landscape format in acrylics on canvas. A large bog of various browns, ochres and oranges, punctuated by grey rocks and slashed with wine trenches, sits between two large mountain slopes - a dark blue one on the left and an alizarin crimson one on the right. Separating the mountain slopes from the bog is a band of green fields and hillocks and trees, while beyond them in the small gap between the 2 slopes beyond the horizon is a round purple hill in front of pale blue jagged mountain peaks. Along the foreground is the titular montbretia, waving from its leaf-green long blades on the right half, and mostly hidden on the left half behind a raised ditch of long pale yellow grasses. The sky is a very pale smokey aqua. Signed bottom right in red. Liam Daly.
November 21, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
eolai.bsky.social
An old #painting for you. 31 yrs ago I did a cycle tour by myself of the newly independent Czech Republic. Březnice was a town I stayed in and when leaving I enjoyed the view looking back at the church in the square where I stayed. A few months later I painted that view. #ArtYear #Scape #SpeirGhorm
Landscape format in acrylics on heavy paper. Loosely painted blotchy marks everywhere. Under a grey and white sky with red underneath breaking through, we are looking up a curving street lined with 2 and 3-story houses, all rendered in panels of oranges and yellows. The house on the right has a black skirt as do two of the houses on the left. Slate roofs on the left are rendered in red, orange and violet. Antennas are attached to most of the houses at the front from by upper story windows. The windows of all levels in the houses and the church are dark purple and blue. The street is curving to the right to the side and back of a large church similarly coloured save for two dark onion domes at the top of towers either side of the front which is facing left so we can't see it but for the tops of the towers. The street surface is a dark grey and foothpaths both sides are purple with lilac kerbs. Signed top left, LIAM '95
October 10, 2025 at 7:35 PM
ellyj.bsky.social
A little calm from Glenveagh National park in Donegal. Spent a weekend here in the most beautiful cold dry winter weather
November 17, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
eolai.bsky.social
A #painting to look at. "Fitzwilliam Square" came from a time when I was just about able to do the odd commission. Still took me years (There was a lot of bricks). Dublin, sometimes it's Georgian. #ArtYear #SpeirGhorm
Portrait format in painterly acrylics on canvas. Under a plain mid-blue sky we look straight on at the front of a red-brick 4-story Georgian house, 2 window bays wide, with half of each adjoining house either side in the same terrace. The street surface is painterly purple with white perpendicular parking lines. The house is mostly orange brick with multi-coloured pointing, the house on the left is more pink brick with pale yellow pointing, and the house on the right more brown brick with blue pointing. Doors have white fanlights and columns, with yellow and grey steps down to yellow footpath. Window frames are white with glass showing dark reflections. Sunshine is brilliant judging by downward shadows of window rails, drainpipes between houses, and lamp-post on right. Signed bottom right, Liam Daly
November 11, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
brendagough.bsky.social
It's the time of year we're told to remember millions killed in war. Referred to as "the ultimate sacrifice", "bravery", "patriotism" etc, few point out they died because of classisim, fascism, and financial power.
The mantra "They died for their country" and "lest
1/2 youtu.be/qB4cdRgIcB8?...
Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen: Read by Christopher Eccleston | Remembering World War 1 | C4
YouTube video by Channel 4 Documentaries
youtu.be
November 9, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
cmjohnston.bsky.social
Hello from a resident of Cushendun…THOSE WEE HANDS THOUGH!
Red squirrel close up
November 7, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social
I've TWO of these beautiful 'Witch & Hare' original linocuts by my mum, Jo, to give away to my Bluesky followers. The print is from my recently republished book, Help The Witch.

All you have to do to enter is repost this story from the book (maybe give it a read too?) www.tom-cox.com/robot-2/
Witch, hare and herbs linocut by my mum. My book Help The Witch
November 7, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
bridgebooksdromore.bsky.social
THEY’RE BACK!
The 12 Books of Christmas were a big hit last year, and people have been asking, so they're back! 12 wrapped books, one surprise every month of 2026. Prices from £48 (or £5 off if you reuse last year’s box). All I need from you is the preferred genre (if any), and I’ll do the rest.
November 5, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social
I have two - TWO - of these gorgeous original A4 meadow hare linoprints by my mum, Jo, to give away to a couple of lucky people here on Bluesky today.

Rules are simple: to be in with a chance to win, you just have to repost this piece I wrote about Jo and her art: www.tom-cox.com/the-magic-ro...
A somewhat psychedelic linocut of a hare
November 5, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
murchadhfinn.bsky.social
“It shows how really desperate Israel is to garner any semblance of support or approval from any source, no matter how inconsequential”
~Brian Feeney

The Irish News

☕️🥐
November 5, 2025 at 6:40 AM
ellyj.bsky.social
Here’s a photo of my freshly groomed dogs to brighten this gloomy autumn day. On the left is the new dog Jessie (8)and beside her is little Pippa (12)
My rescue dogs Jessie on the left mostly white with black patches and a few spaniel spots wearing a green collar. She’s about 8 years old and a mix of terrier and spaniel who came to us in July. Beside her is Pippa mostly black with a white chest and paws. Her little face is grizzled with gray. She’s wearing a pink collar and is a 12 year old patterdale mix we’ve had since she was 3 months. They’re sitting on a yellow blanket
October 26, 2025 at 3:37 PM
ellyj.bsky.social
Tantrum leaving nursery today bc he wanted to bring a tractor🫠
justrena.bsky.social (Dr) Rena Maguire @justrena.bsky.social · Oct 24
"So pleased each and all of them all understood the assignment :)"
estherschindler.bsky.social Esther Schindler @estherschindler.bsky.social · Oct 24
"Thank you so much for hanging out with me."
October 24, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Elly ☘️
justrena.bsky.social
Dear RoI folks. Please, go vote today. Do it for us, who aren't allowed to, despite birth in the island and a passport just like yours.
October 24, 2025 at 7:44 AM