Jonelle Summerfield Oil Paintings: 2013

A scene of some gentlemen having a drink at the Palace Bar in Dublin, Ireland. This was the very first pub I visited while there. My husband did not sleep on the plane, so he decided to take a short nap to ensure that he could keep up with the rigorous pub schedule I had planned. We only had two days to spend in Dublin and I didn't want to waste any time, so I did something I never thought myself capable of... I visited a pub alone!

At around 3:00 in the afternoon, I walked to the bridge to take photos while the sun shined, as the sun was very unpredictable that day. Clouds eventually replaced the sun, and my list of ten pubs to visit and photograph weighed on me, so I went to the easiest pub to find, which was the Palace Bar. Other than two gentlemen sitting at the front bar, and the few sitting in the back room, the place was not very busy. I sat on the stool at the bar closest to the door so I could make a quick exit if sitting alone felt too weird. I ordered a Guinness, which seemed like a bad idea while operating on only four hours of sleep, but the Guinness was on my bucket list so I took the first opportunity to order one. I sat and wrote in my journal and reviewed my existing photos while planning how to snap a few pictures of the bar without upsetting the regulars. The guys at the bar asked me if I was visiting, which broke the ice, and we had a pleasant conversation. I decided that nobody should be afraid to go to a pub in Ireland alone (everywhere else is a different story.) The guys at the bar even let me photograph them :) I juxtaposed one of them into this painting, he is the man on the far right. SOLD.