Irish contemporary painter turning Atlantic weather, bogland silence and coastal memory into large-scale oil paintings. Raw linen, cold wax, salt air. Collected in 14 countries.
I'm Norrie Keane. I paint the weather you can feel in your teeth — grey-green Atlantic mornings, turf smoke, wet stone. My work sits between abstraction and memory: you’ve been here before, even if you haven’t.
Raised on the edge of Clew Bay, trained at NCAD Dublin and the Royal College of Art exchange, I spent a decade as a scenic painter for theatre before committing full-time to canvas in 2014. Since then my large linen works — built with oil, cold wax, marble dust and bog oak pigment — have been shown from Dublin to Copenhagen to Hudson, NY.
I work in series, walking the same coastline for months, sketching in rain, then distilling 200 studies into 12 final paintings. Collectors call it “quiet drama”. I call it coming home.
I grind my own greys from Mayo shale and burnt turf. Surfaces are built in 12-20 layers, scraped back with tide-worn steel.
That 20-minute light when the sea and sky merge. I chase it with a bike, a sketchbook in a freezer bag, and no phone.
Six anchor pieces from “Tide Lines”. All oil + cold wax on linen, 150×180cm unless noted. Commissions in similar palette open for autumn 2026.
Oil & wax, 180×200cm — Private collection, Dublin
Bog pigment, 150×180cm — Available
Marble dust, 150×150cm — Available
Oil on linen, 140×170cm — Sold
Cold wax, 160×190cm — Sold
Oil & shale, 200×220cm — On loan
No photos in the studio. I work from memory and 5-minute rain sketches. Each painting takes 3-7 weeks: stain, block, bury, excavate. I use decorating brushes, sea-worn scrapers, and my grandfather’s trowel.
STUDIO NO.7, DUBLIN — TUESDAY, 6:12AM, BEFORE THE YARD WAKES
“It’s the only painting guests ask about. It changes with the weather — like it’s still alive.”
— Siobhan M., Dublin collector since 2019“Norrie doesn’t paint views. He paints the feeling of coming back after years away.”
— Curator, Westport House Prize 2024Process films, exhibition diaries, pigment experiments. Updated from the studio bench, usually with wet hands.
Two commission slots left for 2026. Sizes from 60×80cm to 200×250cm. Prices from €2,400. Studio visits every first Friday, Dublin Docklands.