Painting on Wood (3) Romany caravans

We knew a travelling family that lived in the traditional hand painted wooden horse drawn caravans. Its a rare privilege to see inside one of these homes. A few years later the caravans were burnt out over a feud about women.These caravans are increasingly rare and works of art so it was a real loss.They cant be replaced.

The man was a carthorse trader and breeder. He traded horses at Spencil Hill, the major horse fair held annually nearby,a special social event for gypsies from all over Ireland. Trading is done by word with cash and spit on the palm.The tiny village of Spencil Hill is bloated with people and police shut off the roads. Horses and chariots and cars and people all mingling together, and a bit of matchmaking added because its springtime!Its a seasonal fair for country people.Its a simple life.

Painted caravans are a special art. Decoration is pattern and pattern is deep in the psyche,not ornament at all. You only have to look at the kerbstones of Newgrange or Knowth outside Dublin( older than the pyramids) to realise that pattern precedes representation,or rather that pattern IS representation of the psyche.