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A typical moment outside a rural shop.  Two women having a chat.  A child wanting to be somewhere else.  The building in Tousist that houses 'The Shop' suggests something of the relics of ould dacency that has survived well.  The clapped out morris minor station wagon pulling up for petrol.  The dog peeing against the wheel.  Clear indications that electricity came later.

With a piece of paper, the artist says, "I am as free as I can ever be".  He can create what he wants.  'Freedom Inside' ... butterflies, a bird, a rose, beautiful stones.  To express his freedom he needs paints, brushes a pencil.  The creativity perhaps helped by tobacco and a comfortable place - suggested by the luxuriantly colourful material.

This is a softer image of the 'Black Valley'.  The colours of Autumn ... from the lightest, yellow-gold to dark brown orange.  The Gearhameen river meandering.  Even the cotton wool clouds and benign mountains.  But shortly the trees will be starkly bare.  After a few hours heavy  rain the river becomes a raging torrent.  And the Reeks can quickly become most inhospitable.

In 'Music & Dance' the artist celebrates his wife's hobbies and other interests.  The 'box' suggesting music and dance.  The profusion of richly coloured flowers and leaves.  Is the 'Finest Old Scotch Whisky' mirror sign suggesting a pub setting?

'Gleninchiquin Waterfall' is a spectacular sight with the water falling vertically.  Here the cascade is divided into a series of streams.  After heavy rain the rock face becomes a wall of wildly tormented white water.  "On my first visit to Ireland many years ago in this glen I realised how small people are in nature."

'Acme Liberator' is about "the Americans freeing Iraq".  Is the artist suggesting something naive?  The children's game ... the tough guy American sportsman.   Disembodied.   Being supported by balloons.

'Eleanor' is "the daughter of a friend.  A smart little thing who will wind men around her little finger".  The male held on puppet strings.  Let the cards fall as they will.   As Eleanor floats magically on a great rock.

In 'Gleninchiquin' "look at how small the house is in the huge landscape.  The house has since been restored and people are living there again.  Some 4,000 or more years ago this was found to be a good place to live".  Timeless.

The  leaves and flowers in 'Poppies' come together like some otherworldly creature.  The spectacles, the stones and the cup all integrate perfectly.

"I consider myself a surrealist although my pictures are clearly recognisable the viewer knows that I have filtered the images through my imagination - and as such they are removed from reality," is Harm Veldhoen's final word.

Clearly what is surreal to one is real to another.  Paddy O'Keeffe in his work with FBD and the Irish Agricultural Trust/Farmers’ Journal, as well as on his home farm, has shown that concepts that might have been considered dreams could become concrete.

When he was young Harm Veldhoen travelled to many different countries before studying at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria.

After finishing his studies he returned to Holland and married Marie Louise, they have two children.  Then lived on a farm in a small village and had his first exhibitions. Harm has exhibited in Holland, Belgium, Germany and America.

In 1979 they came to live in Kenmare, Ireland and has had exhibitions in Dublin, Kenmare and Cork.

With works now all over the world, in addition to working on Watercolours he has made Graphics, Etchings, Lithographs and Silkscreens.

Harm considers himself a surrealist and although easy recognizable the viewer will know that the pictures are filtered through his head, and as such are away from reality. It was in Vienna he became convinced that you could tell your story through day to day images and so has moved surrealism to the daylight. Try to read them. They all tell a story.

- Frank Lewis