As soon as the strict COVID-related travel restrictions were introduced in Ireland on 29 March 2020 John Short began using his daily 2km permitted walk to make a visual record of his neighbourhood under 'lockdown'. Luckily for Short, his house and studio lie in the picturesque and historic town of Dalkey in Co. Dublin, known for its many medieval castles, grand Victorian architecture and superb coastal vistas overlooking Dublin and Killiney Bays.  Using both sketchbook drawings and photography, Short made quick observations on his walks and then returned to his garden studio to paint the watercolours.  John began sharing his daily paintings via Instagram and on the wildly popular local community Dalkey Open Forum Facebook page.  The response was overwhelmingly positive from both locals and ex-pats worldwide and Jamie Gill of Gill's Opticians generously offered to hang a selection of works in his shop windows. When lockdown travel restrictions were lifted the series was postponed but with the introduction of a second lockdown in Oct/Nov, the watercolours started to appear again!  To date, John has created 37 original watercolour paintings and 16 limited edition prints. 

Between 4 - 7th December an exhibition was held in Dalkey's Town Hall which included the Visual Record series, plus a number of larger original paintings of Dun Laoghaire, Sandycove and Killiney also painted this year.  The show was a great success and all works can still be viewed and purchased here in our online viewing room with unframed prints also available for shipping worldwide.     

As we move into 2021 John continues with his lockdown creations. The newest additions to his ongoing study of Dalkey are his delightful 3D figures of winter sea-swimmers. John has been producing unique 3D pieces of his drawings for some time largely in mixed media, cardboard and fabric. This new departure utilises salvaged sheet metals - copper (recycled from hot water cylinder boilers and easily workable) is cut, folded and painted in John's unmistakable style. 

For further details please telephone +353 1 6724429