MORE than forty years have passed since former art student Ian Gordon, his wife Sarah and their two young daughters left London for rural Donegal in search of a better life.

They bought a dilapidated run down cottage in Dunlewey and set about becoming self-sufficient. The cottage was patched up, compost toilets were installed, goats were allowed to roam the nearby hills, trees were planted and the family survived eating food harvested from the land supplemented with money from the dole.

On Saturday, a new exhibition of paintings by Ian Gordon will go on display in An Gailearai, Gweedore. Entitled ‘A Scattering of Light ‘ Ian has chosen to pay homage to the Gweedore area, five miles from his home in Dunlewey.

Over the course of the past eight months he has explored the hidden byways searching for perfect views to set up the canvas and paint.

It’s all far removed from the hustle and bustle of London and life as a Fine Art student at Wimbledon School of Art in the ’70’s.

“I came here more than forty years ago in search of a better way of life and I think it’s worked out very well,” he said.

“I wanted to do a self-sufficient way of life and we managed to get along on the dole. I turned thirty in 1981 and I was thinking that surely I was meant to be an artist so I got stuck into the art and started showing my pictures. My first solo exhibition was in the Workhouse in Dunfanaghy in 1995 – the year it opened. Since then I’ve had solo shows in Dublin, Belfast and the United States,” he explained.

The economic crash in 2008 led to Ian Gordon having to re-appraise his approach to his work.

“My paintings were place specific and were no longer selling so I decided to just concentrate on this area and rebuild. I tend to sell my pictures from the house and over the years I’ve managed to build up a strong clientele,” he said.

Gordon is an intuitive ‘en plein air’ artist, meaning he paints directly from the scenes location, outside in the elements – not back within the comfort and security of the studio.

This painting method allows Gordon to be dynamic, expressive and acting in the moment allowing no time for ‘tyding up’ or ‘fixing’ so what we get is an immediate unedited response. The energetic paintings are made with vigorous palette knife and brush marks and make use of a soft range of colours.

“I’ve been dodging around the Donegal weather. December and Janaury were both quite good but February has been a complete wash-out,” he said.

“It’s high energy from start to finish. It’s a bit like spórt. You have to kit yourself out in the right géar, assess the situation – look at the wind, see what direction the sun is coming from – it comes down to years of experience,” he added.

Gordon’s wife, Sarah Lewtas is also an artist who focuses ón sculptural installation. Her latest exhibition ‘Dearest, Someone was asking for you’ was in the RCC in Letterkenny throughout January.

“Today I’m 69 years old. I have five daughters and eight grand daughters. One of the greatest thrills has been to see the trees I planted thirty years ago turn into ten acres of forest. This is a real treasure place to live. People are lovely and we’re very lucky,” he said.

The exhibition launch is Saturday, March 7, at 7.30pm and will be opened by archaeoilogist and neighbour Brian Lacey and the event is free to the public. There will be twenty-five paintings ón display and they range in price from 500 euro to 1,000 euro.

An Gailearaí opening times are Monday to Friday 1pm – 5.30pm and open until 8pm on Wednesdays. Please contact 0749560862, www.angailearai.com, www.iangordon.ie, eircode; F92PT38