The Dublin Painting and Sketching Club, 141st Annual Exhibition 29th April - 12th May 2019

George was born in Dublin, the eldest of six children. He became hooked on painting, when at the age of seven and confined to bed for three months, his father bought him a box of watercolours, brushes and paper. In the following years, he became interested in all things graphic and how things worked and borrowed books from the library, but mostly on art. No Google or You Tube then. His skill was recognised at the age of ten or eleven when his teacher commissioned him to enlarge a map of Ireland, from a book, to hang on the wall. He became interested in calligraphy and type-faces and studied lettering and commercial art in the National College of Art with Professor Romaine and life drawing with Sean Keating and John Kelly. He studied advertising practice in the College of Commerce, Rathmines, lithography in Bolton Street and a course on colour with Kodak in London. He also went to George Colley RHA for portrait painting. At weekends, he went on painting trips to the Wicklow Mountains and along the sea coast with a group of fellow students from the College of Art, many of whom became members of the RHA. George worked as a freelance graphic artist, mainly sign writing. Initially in the studio of a printers, before moving to the studio in a leading advertising agency. From there, he started a silk screen printing company, which he ran for thirty years. They produced work for most of the leading advertising agencies. One of the highlights of the business for George, was the production of limited edition, silk screen prints, for many established artists. Due to the pressures of running a business, he was unable to paint very much. However, when he retired at the age of sixty, he was able to return to his first love…painting. George has painted a wide variety of subjects, including landscapes, street, seascapes and still life. He joined the Dublin Painting and Sketching Club when he retired and has been exhibiting with them and the Water Colour Society ever since. He has had several one-man exhibitions and has shown paintings, in oils and watercolour, in many galleries around Ireland. He has won a number of awards and his work is on permanent exhibition in the collections of the University of Limerick, the OPW and the Department of Foreign Affairs. Another love of his was gardening, growing a wide variety of fruit and vegetables as well as a good range of flowers, trees and shrubs. The garden also provided an inspiration for many paintings both outdoors in the garden and as still life work. In recent years, due to declining health, George has been unable to paint as much as he would like and he has hardly picked up a brush in almost a year. He is now being very well looked after in a Nursing Home and hopes improvements in his health will allow him to soon paint again. Featured Artist George Oakley Still Life George Oakley Spring Dun na Ri George Oakley Lilies George Oakley Portrait of Kay George Oakley