egg tempera, 66 x 91 cm © Fergus A Ryan, 2019

I was going back to an abandoned house in the west of Ireland I had painted a few years earlier and I stopped this man on a bicycle to confirm directions. It turned out he was belong to the family that had owned the house! Only in Ireland. I asked if he would pose for me and he raised his head a little. It seemed as if he were scenting the approaching rain.