Skippy’s Tale animation at The Limerick Show, Ormston House, Opening Thursday November 28 7-9pm, runs November 29 – February 1 2025.

Original drawing for Skippy’s Tale book.

Glad to end 2024 on a high note! I have previously written here with news of my animated film – Skippy’s Tale, based on my illustrated book of the same name. The film tells the sad story of Skippy, a stray cat to my friend Des’ childhood home, her kittens, and what happened on a bitterly cold night.

I began the process of making the film in 2018 while in Contact Studios’ second iteration in the Cahill May Roberts building (since demolished to make way for the Opera Centre) in 2018. With natural (or any!) light at a premium in that building, painting really was impossible for me, so I put together a complete rendition of the book (with some necessary editing sympathetic to the medium) in miniature panels.

Drawings/storyboard with production notes for Skippy’s Tale, 2018.

New life was breathed into the project during my Test Space Residency in Limerick City Gallery (2021). I enlisted Declan Greene (Contact/Wickham Artist) to animate, while my good friend and Gallery Interlude collaborator Mark S Sheehan composed an original (brilliant) score, and we completed it in late 2023. Sincere thanks to both, and congrats on your hard work! The film is short, at 4.26minutes, and I hope that visitors to Ormston House enjoy my movie.

I am very grateful to Pádraic E. Moore, Artistic Director at Ormston House, and all associated there for selecting my work for the show. I sincerely thank Úna McCarthy and all at Limerick City Gallery of Art for furthering the project and encouraging my practice – míle míle!

Thanks to Tom Prendergast for keeping Wickham St. Studios going, and the best of luck to my studio colleagues in the show, and the many other Limerick artists showing! It is a great idea to get the local arts practitioners together, so fair play.

Lastly, a shout out to Limerick Arts Office, for studio funding during 2024.

Go n-éírí libh!!!