Historic Brookhaven resident and artist Stacey McGrath always painted although neighbors may more identify her name with the beaded jewelry she created and sold for years. She wound down her jewelry business when her oldest children, Nick and Chris, graduated and began taking painting classes. When she and her husband Joe purchased property on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland, she started carrying her big camera with her on walks and taking photos of Irish animals and landscapes. Then she started painting them and selling those paintings.

 

Why Ireland for a second home? Stacey and Joe love hiking. They first traveled to Ireland for its beautiful hikes, then began looking at houses while there, and eventually purchased a house they found while seeking shelter during a rain storm.

 

“We wanted to find a place that was a nice complement to Atlanta,” says Stacey, noting they had considered a lake house but wanted something different. Joe is of Irish descent and now is a dual citizen of both Ireland and the United States.

 

While Stacey paints in her “she” shed in Ireland, she tends to leave those pieces in Dingle and paint the works she sells in Atlanta after returning home. “For the most part, I take pictures [while in Ireland],” she says. “We do a lot of hikes and I take that inspiration and use it when I get back to Atlanta.”

 

About 90% of Stacey’s paintings are of Irish landscapes, sheep, and cows. The landscapes are from the Dingle Peninsula or nearby Kerry. The sheep or cows are often from a neighbor’s farm. “Sometimes I’ll show the guys in the pubs here [in Dingle] my cows and they’ll say, ‘Oh, that’s Martin’s new calf,’” Stacey laughs.

 

She also has a series of botanicals that she painted in 2020 and 2021. During the pandemic, Stacey challenged herself to paint the crocus, magnolias, daffodils, and forsythia found around her house on Angelo Drive. “Art is all about exploration and imagination and conversation,” she notes.

 

How to Find Stacey’s Work? Visit her website staceymcgrath.com or studio at the Urban Art Collective in Chamblee, which is open to visitors from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays. Located at 5655 Peachtree Road, the collective is home to over 35 artists. You can also text Stacey at (404)841-0107 for an appointment. Some of her sheep and cow paintings are displayed in the Sunshine Village Art Gallery in Watkinsville.

 

 

SIDEBAR – PLACE IN A BOX NEAR PIECE ABOUT STACEY

HEAD = Fun Fact

SUBHEAD = Dingle Hosts Ireland’s First St. Patrick’s Day Parades

 

When Stacey and Joe McGrath bought their second home on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland, they had no idea that the nearby town Ballydavid would have the distinction of hosting the country’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade each year. A few years ago, the townsmen decided to march at midnight on March 17 and stage the day’s earliest parade, says Stacey, noting Joe will be part of this year’s festivities.

 

St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Ireland aren’t just about green beer and Fife & Drum bands. The Irish in Dingle traditionally attend mass at 10 a.m. or noon, thus the desire for an early parade. The nearby Dingle town parade starts at dawn.

 

Stacey notes the Dingle area is littered with ancient churches and monasteries. “As early as the 900s, they had St. Patrick feasts here,” she says. St. Patrick worked to convert the Irish to Christianity in the fifth century.