YM Whelan - Orkneyinga*

new small unframed watercolour paintings

3100 B.C., 2025, Peerless watercolour, pencil on Fabriano paper, 4x8 inches,


Artist Statement:

I spent just over a week on Mainland Orkney in October 2024. It was unseasonably warm according to the locals in Stromness – and it was beautiful. The dense, rich colours: luxuriant greens, red iron oxides, and multitudes of browns. The grey of the seas, the unnervingly bright blue of the sky, there near the top of the world. The ever-present standing stones and cairns and mounds, both dwelling places and Holy Places.
The history, the age of it all, was omnipresent, always there, around you and in the land, the spirits of the ancestors were present in every breath. You were very conscious of all this, all this, around you at all times.
These small abstracted landscapes have their roots in the land, surrounded by the seas, overshadowed by the sky.
It was the strangest thing. I had never been there, but it felt like home. YM Whelan, 2025


*”Belonging To” or “Of The” Orkneys

Where: Beaver Hall Gallery
29 McCaul Street – main floor
Toronto, ON M5T 1V7

When: May 14-24, 2025
Wednesday to Saturday, noon to six p.m.