Today’s artist is Donald Curran, who lives in St. Louis. He spent most of his career as an illustrator, including “designing and illustrating high end collectible steins for Anheuser-Busch.” After turning his attention to fine art, he’s been creating paintings of a wide range of subjects, including this one, entitled Having a Pint.
This one was painted in 2007 and Curran, like all his works, describes it simply. “This is a painting I did of two gentlemen having a pint in a pub in Ennis, County Clare.” Given he worked for A-B, it’s probably not too surprising that he’s done a number of paintings of life in pubs. Here are a few of them below.
Dublin Pub. “This is a painting I did of a man waiting for the beer delivery truck in front of a pub in Dublin, Ireland.”
Sharing a Beer. “This is a painting in a series of three I did of a little dog watching a man drink a beer in a pub in Ireland. The dog finally gets it’s wish.”
From the biography on his website:
After graduating from high school, he studied at the Kansas City Art Institute. In 1975 Donald began a career as a successful illustrator. As an illustrator he is best known for designing and illustrating high end collectable steins for Anheuser-Busch, Inc. After twenty years of working for hundreds of major national and international companies, he decided to devote himself to his first love of fine art painting.
Donald now creates paintings of all the things he loves. He claims finding material to paint is as easy as keeping your eyes open. His travels around the world provide him the material that motivate him to paint. His home in Missouri will always be a major influence on his work. The change of seasons and beauty of the mid-west continue to keep him residing there.
A Dublin Pub. “This is a painting I did of the famous “CONFESSION BOX” pub in Dublin.”
Galway Pub Music. “This is a painting I did of a group of people singing and playing music at the Tig Coili Pub in Galway.”
Donald’s work has been exhibited in numerous museums, galleries and exhibitions. His paintings can be found in collections throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Asia. He was commissioned to do three paintings for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Outside the Guinness Brewery. “This is a painting I did of a man with his horse and wagon standing outside the Guinness Brewery in Dublin.”
Party at the Pub. “This is a painting I did of the inside of a pub in the city of Cork. It looked like everyone was having a grand time!”
You can also see additional pieces by Curran at Mystic Sea, the Museum of America and the Sea, Artnet, the gallery at his website, and his blog.