Bring home a museum-quality reproduction of Anna Hutchinson’s original artwork, carefully crafted to preserve every nuance of texture and tone.
#136 Cata in the Shannon Estuary is shaped from the story of a young humpback whale that arrived in the estuary in late November 2024. It was first recorded near the Killimer and Tarbert ferry crossing and confirmed by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group as HBIRL136, a juvenile about 7.7 metres long. This was the first time a humpback had ever been documented inside the estuary, an event that brought a sense of wonder and excitement to the area.
The whale stayed for weeks, feeding in the sheltered water and moving with a softness that felt almost unreal against the familiar backdrop of the river. Its presence changed the rhythm of the place. Ships were asked to slow to protect it, and people gathered along the banks hoping to catch sight of its steady rise and fall. Even those who never saw it felt the shift. News of a young whale exploring the Shannon carried its own kind of electricity.
Locals began calling it Cata, a name drawn from an old estuary legend about a creature said to live near Inis Cathaigh, or Scattery Island. The name has been tied to the water for centuries, and giving it to this whale created a small connection between folklore and the real animal that had suddenly appeared among us.
I worked from photographs and the atmosphere of those days, stitching the curve of the whale’s fluke and the movement of the water around it caught in the moment when something wild and rare slipped beneath the surface of the Shannon Estuary.
Each print is produced using archival pigment inks on beautiful Textured Fine Art 330gsm paper. The depth and detail of the original stitching comes across so well that people often can’t believe it’s a print.
These prints feature a white background as part of the artwork, so there is no separate printed border. They arrive exactly as designed, matted, signed, and ready to be framed.
All prints are made to order and individually checked for quality.
Please allow 5–10 days for production before dispatch.
Bring home a museum-quality reproduction of Anna Hutchinson’s original artwork, carefully crafted to preserve every nuance of texture and tone.
#136 Cata in the Shannon Estuary is shaped from the story of a young humpback whale that arrived in the estuary in late November 2024. It was first recorded near the Killimer and Tarbert ferry crossing and confirmed by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group as HBIRL136, a juvenile about 7.7 metres long. This was the first time a humpback had ever been documented inside the estuary, an event that brought a sense of wonder and excitement to the area.
The whale stayed for weeks, feeding in the sheltered water and moving with a softness that felt almost unreal against the familiar backdrop of the river. Its presence changed the rhythm of the place. Ships were asked to slow to protect it, and people gathered along the banks hoping to catch sight of its steady rise and fall. Even those who never saw it felt the shift. News of a young whale exploring the Shannon carried its own kind of electricity.
Locals began calling it Cata, a name drawn from an old estuary legend about a creature said to live near Inis Cathaigh, or Scattery Island. The name has been tied to the water for centuries, and giving it to this whale created a small connection between folklore and the real animal that had suddenly appeared among us.
I worked from photographs and the atmosphere of those days, stitching the curve of the whale’s fluke and the movement of the water around it caught in the moment when something wild and rare slipped beneath the surface of the Shannon Estuary.
Each print is produced using archival pigment inks on beautiful Textured Fine Art 330gsm paper. The depth and detail of the original stitching comes across so well that people often can’t believe it’s a print.
These prints feature a white background as part of the artwork, so there is no separate printed border. They arrive exactly as designed, matted, signed, and ready to be framed.
All prints are made to order and individually checked for quality.
Please allow 5–10 days for production before dispatch.
Printed on Epson Somerset Velvet archival paper (100% cotton rag, 255 gsm)
Size: 40cm x 40cm, mounted
Inks: Epson UltraChrome archival pigment inks
Lightfast for up to 200 years
White background is part of the artwork (no added borders)
Made to order with individual quality checks. Please allow 5 - 10 days for production.
