Castle Art Group, Trim Exhibition

Do you paint yourself? was the question I was asked most often last night at the launch of the annual exhibition by the Castle Art Group, Trim . No I don't paint myself though I would probably look better if I did. Two of the group members are also members of our Writing Group. Where do they get the time?

The large attendance at the launch included the local government minister, Noel Dempsey, our new Parish Priest and Yvette Bloomfield, President of Trim Chamber of Commerce, who launched the exhibition.

There are, as you might expect of such a historic town, many paintings of Trim Castle, the Yellow Steeple, the Wellington Monument and various other streets and scenes in the town. But it's not just Trim. There are paintings of Moore Street and Grafton Street, Dublin, Ross Castle and Killarney Cathedral, Kerry, Kilkenny, Venice, and even Havana and Australia.

The most striking painting is the large one pictured above of Trim Castle as it was for the film Braveheart. (More on the film here.) This painting is a co-operative effort by six members of the group - Teresa McCole, June Smith, Jenny Andersson, Anne Crinion, Sheila Keating and Angela Kelliher. An impressive record of a historic event in Trim, it would look well in a public building in the town, a hotel, tourist office or the like.

Eight artists are represented in the exhibition and ten per cent of sales go to Meath Palliative Care. The artists in addition to those mentioned above are June Hesnan and Christy O'Reilly. The exhibition, in Trim Castle Hotel, will continue for five days.