Local artist Brian captures beauty of A Beautiful World in Down

Local artist Brian captures beauty of A Beautiful World in Down

3 April 2024

A DOWNPATRICK artist, who captures the beauty of Co Down in oil, is opening a new exhibition this weekend.

Born less than four miles from Balllyhornan beach, gifted artist Brian Trainor has captured and painted one of the world’s most scenic coastlines as well as Down Cathedral, the Mournes and beyond.

The exhibition, entitled ‘A Beautiful World’, opens at The Saint Patrick Centre's art gallery on Saturday at 2pm.

The opening will be performed by St Patrick’s Way pilgrim guide Martina Purdy.

She said: “I’m honoured to have been invited by Brian to launch this stunning collection of oil paintings.

“Brian brings his own vibrant personality to the images and often adds a splash of red to set off the natural greens and blues of St Patrick’s Country.

“Those who have visited this area know already that it is an area of outstanding natural beauty. Brian not only captures this amazing area, but illuminates it with his own spirit and imagination, and invites us all to see something even more wonderful.”

“I hope many people will come along and enjoy these images - and be blessed to acquire one or two.”

Brian’s paintings of Ballynahinch beach and the coastguard cottages - taken from different angles - form part of his new exhibition.

He is inspired by artists Paul Henry, William Turner and John Constable and studied painting under TP Flanagan at St Mary’s Teacher Training College in Belfast.

Most of his paintings are of the Lecale area and St Patrick’s Country – including Loughmoney where he likes to fish. The exhibition also includes still life and flowers from his garden or from places he visited on holiday, such as Lake Garda in Italy.

He marvels at the beauty all around him and hopes that others will see it through new eyes when they see his work and his version of the local area.

“I love living here,” he said. “And I would never dream of living anywhere else. It is ideal for painting.

“I have painted two or three scenes of a country road, things that nobody would ever have noticed or given a second thought to.

“When I look at them I see the beauty in them and the purpose of my exhibition is to get people to notice that they live in one of the best places in the world.”

Brian painted the  coastguard cottages at Ballyhornan from an old black and white postcard.

He is amused when people tell him his painting looks nothing like it does today.

“I did the first painting from an old black and white postcard I had 50 years ago and I put colour into it,” said Brian.

He paints mainly from his own photographs and adds his own vibrant colour with a particular love of red against the green fields.

 “I love red. It is my favourite colour. It is a cheerful bright warm colour,” he said. 

His interest in art began as a young boy in rural 1950s Downpatrick, with images of houses and wildflowers – and deepened when a doctor from Killough attended his sickbed at  his family’s Ballycruttle cottage and noticed his love of art. 

“When I was seven I had rheumatic fever,” he recalled. “When Dr Murphy came out to see me I must have been drawing.

He got to see I was interested in art and before he left he gave my mother five shillings and said, ‘buy him some paints’. That really got me started - which was very considerate of him.”

Brian got his first commission from a local farmer’s wife on the Ardglass Road. “I sat on the wall opposite and painted the farmhouse. The lady gave me half a crown for the painting.”

Not long after finishing school, Brian had an opportunity to travel and work abroad. During this time he got the chance to return to education and acquire academic qualifications which enabled him to enter teacher training. For many years he was head of art at De La Salle High School.

Brian eventually moved on from being an art teacher to youth work and education administration with the South Eastern Education and Library Board.

When he retired in 2000 he devoted his energy to his art, working with water colours, acrylics and oil. Now he only works with oil. 

He set up a studio in the cellar of his home. His first exhibition was with local artist and friend Jim Manley. As well as this he kept up his teaching interest as a tutor with Down Arts Centre.  

Brian says he is inspired by the beauty he finds in nature. “I had an exhibition a few years ago that was mostly animals, cows and sheep”. This theme has been carried on in his latest show with the paintings of The Three Donkeys and a typical mountain sheep.

A previous exhibition was entitled ‘Into the Light’ because he was so surprised by how vibrant his images looked in natural light after painting them in the artificial light of his cellar.  Along the way he has had six one-man shows.

Brian says he loves the feedback from people who ring him to say how much they enjoy his work. 

“And it is a beautiful world that we are destroying,” he adds.