Description

RATHLIN ISLAND.

Rathlin is located on the northeast and is as near to Scotland as It is to Ireland. Close to the Mull of Kintyre, the legend has It that the Children of Lir spent 300 years as swans on the sea between these two islands. Its shores are dangerous and have been the peril of many ships and boats over the years.
The Island is shaped like the letter ‘L’ and is four miles long and three miles wide. Its cliffs are home to a wide range of birds including puffins.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
“This island is irresistible and powerful. I include Kinbane Castle, which has been there for hundreds of years and I also try to give a sense of the evocative stormy atmosphere. When you paint Rathlin you have lo include a reference to the Children of Lir and the lady in the painting is Aoife, whom the legend says turned the children into swans.”

CityJet, the Irish airline, commissioned the internationally renowned artist, Jim Fitzpatrick, to create images that would reflect the mythology, history and natural environment of Ireland’s islands.
These remote islands, nearly as far west as one can get in Europe, are hidden gems and places of staggering natural beauty. In some cases, history and folklore are all that’s left today of some of the smaller islands. The once vibrant fishing communities are now deserted, a haunting landscape of roofless cottages and grass-covered potato ridges. The islands uniquely reveal to the resolute traveler a rare glimpse of Irish life over the centuries: bronze age settlements, promontory forts used by marauding Celtic tribes, small early Christian chapels, the rocky remains of Norman forts and the burial sites of islanders.
This collection includes paintings depicting the following islands:

Bere, Clare, Rathlin, Tory, Skellig Michael & St. Macdara