{"id":416471,"date":"2026-04-25T06:23:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T06:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/416471\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T06:23:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T06:23:29","slug":"i-dont-mind-if-people-do-or-dont-like-it-kim-day-on-croagh-patrick-painting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/416471\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI don\u2019t mind if people do or don\u2019t like it\u201d – Kim Day on Croagh Patrick painting"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Kim Day recently won Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year, the English painter could hardly have anticipated the whirlwind that would follow \u2014 sold-out work, a National Gallery commission, and an unexpected love affair with the west of Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been amazing \u2014 quite hectic, if I\u2019m being honest, but it\u2019s a good kind of hectic,\u201d she says. \u201cEverything I had been working on is now gone, so I\u2019m starting from scratch. It\u2019s really nice to have a clean slate and start a new set of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The win brought with it a prestigious commission from the National Gallery of Ireland \u2014 the first of its kind the institution had ever undertaken. Dr Brendan Rooney, who oversees a collection widely regarded as the most comprehensive holding of Irish art in the world, approached Day with a specific challenge: to paint Croagh Patrick, the legendary mountain on Mayo\u2019s western seaboard, and explore a gap in the landscape\u2019s artistic depiction.<\/p>\n

For Day, it meant travelling somewhere she had never been before \u2014 despite having lived in Belfast and travelled widely across Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d never been across to Westport,\u201d she admits. \u201cSo it was a really wonderful discovery, just realising how beautiful it is. Going up Croagh Patrick, travelling around Achill Island \u2014 it was just tremendous. And the welcome was so warm.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Privilege<\/p>\n

\u201cIT felt like a real privilege to meet all these amazing people and see their experience of living around Croagh Patrick. It was an amazing experience all round.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the people she met was Fr John Kenny, who made quite an impression when he met her wearing a Kylo Ren costume.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was just taken aback as the last thing you\u2019d expect to see coming down off Croagh Patrick was Kylo Ren,\u201d the Westport Parish Administrator laughs.<\/p>\n

He uses the costume for fundraising events and it was a nod to her career in the film industry, which includes working on a Star Wars film.<\/p>\n

He says that it was \u201conly after seeing the program that I realised how deeply spiritual and how deeply appreciative she was of her visit to the mountain.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe covered all the vital aspects of what the mountain means to people, and certainly means to her as an artist,\u201d he reflects.<\/p>\n

The resulting painting, which now hangs in the National Gallery in Dublin, made a striking artistic choice \u2014 one that immediately divided opinion. The summit of Croagh Patrick is nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was very much a conscious decision,\u201d Day explains. \u201cI knew people might not like it, but I really wanted to tell the story. This is about human journeys \u2014 whether physical or emotional. There really is no destination as such. It\u2019s just the journey we\u2019re all going through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dotting the path are lights representing the thousands of pilgrims who have climbed the mountain across the centuries. \u201cI wanted to capture the sense of the soul of the people who have traversed that path,\u201d she says. \u201cThe light and energy of people \u2014 that was the way to express it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In traditional landscape painting, cutting the summit from a mountain would be considered a significant breach of convention, and Day was well aware of that. \u201cIn terms of traditional painting, it\u2019s something you would never, ever do. But I wanted to be brave enough to make that choice. I wanted to say something more than just produce a beautiful image. There are so many images of Croagh Patrick already. I wanted to say something about us as people \u2014 about the light and dark within us, about why people make that journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2018A bit Marmite\u2019<\/p>\n

THE reaction has been, in her own words, \u2018a bit Marmite\u2019. Some viewers have embraced the painting\u2019s philosophical depth; others have been considerably less forgiving. Day takes it all in her stride. \u201cI think it\u2019s better to have a Marmite reaction than for people to just say, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s nice.\u2019 People remember it. Art has that effect. I\u2019m quite happy to get the positive and the negative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fr Kenny was at the official unveiling in the National Gallery and his initial reaction was to understand her statement that a frame can\u2019t capture a mountain. His second thought was to see it as a good thing, because \u201cif people want to see the summit, you have to come to Westport. And if you really want to see the summit, you have to climb the mountain.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Kim, seeing the painting in the Gallery remains something of an out-of-body experience for the artist, who has had to rely on photographs sent by well-wishers to view it in situ. \u201cI still have to pinch myself,\u201d she laughs. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those slightly surreal situations. I feel very, very lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Mayo itself, Day is emphatic that her time there has not ended. She plans to return, paintbrush in hand, for a far longer stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor any landscape artist wanting a real challenge and fuel for their work, Mayo is the place,\u201d she says. \u201cThe light changes constantly, the cloud formations, the variety of landscapes \u2014 it gives you literally everything you could possibly want. I would quite happily go out there and paint for a few months. That would be wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE<\/p>\n

Kim Day\u2019s painting of Croagh Patrick is currently on display at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.<\/p>\n

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