BLARNEY ISLAND PRINTS

Blarney Island has been around for a long time, and is located on Grass Lake, within the Chain of Lakes in Antioch, IL. 

The previous owner John Haley owned this bar for 40 years, and is centered under the American flag with his two brothers, Ed and Clemm(at one time they all owned it together....HBC-Haley Bros Co.)  And John is also painted in again, holding the ferry the Blarney Princess.  His wife Kristi, and their children are all painted into the painting too, along with his nephews.  Hidden throughout the painting are the names John, Kristi, and their children - Patrick, Quinn and Kira.

As a child, I enjoyed feeding the ducks, so I put John's kids doing just that. When I was in my 20's, I had a sign business and I painted some signage for them.  That sign is included in this painting.   My dad's boat is the orange Switzer on the farthest back dock and Kristi's dads boat is seen in the lower right pulling up to the dock.  One of Johns' kids is awaiting the arrival of the boat to tie it up. 

This painting was put together like a puzzle and took over 2 years to paint because of the attention to high detail and working from a stack of low resolution photographs.  Not one picture had all the details and I could recall certain things, but the real help came when John would visit and fill me in with structural details.  All the while telling me historic stories of this infamous bar.