Armstrong was born in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim. He began his career as a painting of landscapes and portraits after finishing his studies in Belfast and some traveling on the continent from scholarships. He died in Dublin in 1957.
Roundstone Evening is one of the best examples of a mid-way situation between the two extremes: one a literal-visual-dominated representation; the other a design-dominated representation.
You can actually watch the puzzle, the mosaic in its slow take-over and transformation of the linear sequential, connected array of visual details. You can feel the intuitive structure moving through the scene, pushing across top to bottom and from the sides blocking sectioning, flattening, putting a new emphasis on composition.
The result is a kind of stylization of the scene, but a handsome confident one that enhances the mood of loneliness and mystery.
