Neil O'Dwyer...Irish Mural Artist

Annacotty riverside mural.

irishmurals — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:05:26 +0000

I recently completed a riverside mural in Annacotty, Limerick, for the Inland Fisheries and local Tidy Towns Committee. The mural featured some of the river wildlife, and the local 5th class from Lisnagry National School helped me complete the artwork.

Group Art Exhibition

irishmurals — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 22:26:40 +0000

An art exhibition entitled ‘The Art of Rugby’ opened in Kenny’s Art Gallery in Galway, last Wednesday (August 31st) evening. Opened by former Irish International and current Connacht Coach, Eric Elwood, this mixed media group exhibition will run for the duration of the Rugby World Cup. Containing paintings, limited edition prints and some beautiful bronzes, the game of Rugby is creatively depicted in many different styles. Well worth a visit by anyone interested in the sport.

St.Vincent De Paul Church,Boston.

irishmurals — Mon, 02 May 2011 22:22:58 +0000

I was recently sent a photograph of a gold leaf revamp that I worked on in Saint Vincent De Paul Catholic Church, E Street, in South Boston. This was a few years ago, and I travelled to the U.S. to work on this project with my brother John who lives there. An interesting project…

Moss Keane TV Tribute

irishmurals — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 23:24:14 +0000

RTE TV aired a lovely tribute documentary to the late great Moss Keane last Monday night (March 7th.) This programme, titled ‘Clock na Carn’, featured contributions from family and friends, with footage from his rugby career and interviews from the man himself. About ten minutes into the programme, my painting of Moss and the men of ’78 came up on the screen, as Mick Galway spoke about that famous Munster victory over the All Blacks. That was a really pleasant surprise, and I consider it a great honour to have some of my work associated with Moss and Munster rugby in this way……

Inclusion in Art book

irishmurals — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:12:48 +0000

It doesn’t happen every day, but I was delighted to have one of my murals featured in a recent art publication. The book is titled ‘BY THE WAY’ (A selection of public art in Ireland), and features many beautiful photos of public sculpture from around the country. My mural is the only piece of ‘non sculpture’ featured, and is one that I did in Tipperary for local publican Lorcan Roche. As the caption that accompanies the photo says…’ Mural, O’Brien Street, Tipperary Town…Illustrates the colourful past of these premises: Formerly a supplier of seeds, fuels, general supplies, day-old chicks, and of course the customers’ favourite beverages. The mural reflects a bygone era remembered by many of its older patrons’ Congrats to author Ann Lane on a beautiful publication, and many thanks for the inclusion….

Some recent projects

irishmurals — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 23:11:05 +0000

Shown here is a residential mural that I did lately for John, who is a big ’Lord of the Rings’ fan. Even though the room isn’t extra large, the mural fits right in and the scene is finished off nicely with the LOTR chess boards, laid out in the foreground.

Above is a detail from a mural that I did for the 147 Snooker Club in Wexford town. The ‘King of Clubs’ is rightly holding a snooker cue…

This is a lakeside scene for the Willowbrook Lodge Nursing Home, painted outdoors in a quite garden area.

Painted earlier this year for Declan Carr in Thurles, we must have had a premonition of the great things to come later with Tipperary’s super All-Ireland hurling success. As the caption says: ‘One will conquer all’…

No introductions necessary…..

Moss Keane: The passing of a gentleman

irishmurals — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:45:04 +0000

It was with great sadness that we all learned of the passing of the great Moss Keane this week. I only had the pleasure of meeting him on a couple of occasions, and I won’t ever forget his friendliness and humour each time. A true gent. Sympathies to his wife Anne, daughters Sarah and Anne Marie, and all his friends and relations. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis.

Charity Auction of Print

irishmurals — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:26:45 +0000

As referred to in my last blog, I had an online auction of one of my fully signed Munster v All Black 1978 prints for the Bike Africa charaties. This auction was a great success, and many thanks to all the bidders and visitors over the duration of the fund raising venture. Congratulations to ‘Fairplex’ who was successful with a very generous donation, which was greatly appreciated by all on the Bike Africa Team.

Trip of a lifetime……..

irishmurals — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:37:36 +0000

If you feel like going for a good cycle, Africa sounds like an interesting challenge. If you can raise some much appreciated funds for a few good causes at the same time, then why not. At least, this was the thinking of four Irish lads earlier on this year, and to date they have accomplished loads. Maghnus Collins Smyth, Brian O’Shea (both from Limerick), David Burns (Coleraine), and my brother Alan (Tipperary), are the four in question. The cycle started in Addis Ababa last May, and they reached Cape Town in October, a distance of over 5000 kilometres. Most people would feel that was the end of it, and ‘Mission Accomplished’. Not our lads. a flight back to Addis Ababa to cycle home! Thats right, up through Ethiopa, Sudan, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, across Europe and home. That’s the plan, and the best of luck to them. One of the crew had to return home to college from South Africa, so well done Brian. The other three lads are in Khartoum in The Sudan as I write ( Nov. 7th ’09), so there’s much to look forward to from here on in. For a continuing update of the cycle, log into their website on www.bikeafrica2009.com and knock in a couple of bob if you can spare it for the charaties (St. Gabriels of Limerick, OAM Sports Academy of South Africa, and Self Help Africa. The lads are doing this at their own expense, and every penny collected goes straight to the three charaties. Their website is a super read, with some photos/videos included, and is well worth a visit.

For any serious Munster rugby fans out there, one of my Munster v All Black Prints, kindly signed by all the members of the 1978 team ( including coach, Tom Kiernan) will be auctioned for the cause in Limerick. This will hopefully happen when the lads return in the Springtime, and would be a super piece of Munster rugby memorabilia to have. I believe that it’s the first time that artwork signed by the whole team of ’78 has been done. Check back here around Feb/March for an auction date, and hopefully it will do well for the charaties.

The four amigos on their way to Shannon airport?

Promoting my new Munster Rugby Print

irishmurals — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:55:03 +0000

Since launching the Munster/All Black 1978 Limited Edition Print last November, I’ve been busy promoting it, and enjoyed the positive reaction that it’s received even in these hardened economic times. It seems that it’s the first time ever, that this has been done to mark that game, so it’s nice to be a part of the thirtieth anniversary celebrations in this way. Having worked on the original painting on and off for over a year, I decided on the final layout after viewing old newspaper cuttings and after twice reading Alan English’s excellent book about the game, ‘Stand up and Fight’. Once I came across the central image of Moss Keane celebrating with Christy Cantillon and Les White, I felt that this image was what I wanted to build the painting around, as it showed what this victory meant to Munster players and fans alike. I feel that the sheer grit and determination shows through here. All of the players, including coach Tom Kiernan feature in the painting, plus some of the key moments such as Jimmy Bowens try-making run, and Seamus Dennison’s crunching tackle on Stu Wilson which set the tone for the whole game, and showed the Kiwis that Munster meant business. Anthony Foley’s father Brendan is also shown in the lineout against Andy Haden, which is a nice connection between that game in ’78 and our first Heineken cup win in 2006. Tony Ward is also shown, as is Graham Mourie the legendary All Black captain. As the photo below shows, George Hook, the well known rugby pundit has one of the prints in his possession, having been presented with it by the Munster supporters club in Dublin before Christmas.