Sly White Fox and Four Sheep by John Shinnors sold for 6.600 at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art last week. Adult Reading at Artist’s Bedtime, which has just been published by Gandon Editions, recounts how the renowned Limerick artist was first inspired to paint animals.It happened one afternoon years ago when he went to do some plein air painting by the river. He had walked through a field of cows and, though absorbed in what he was doing, felt a presence behind him. He turned to find almost the whole herd of friesians had gathered, jockeying for position, as if to judge the work. “It then dawned on me that I was painting the wrong thing. whistling I quietly turned the easel about and put up a new canvas board It was as if I really observed them for the 1st time”.
