As usual, the Cheltenham of the art world, the Christies' and Sotheby's Irish sales, in London this Thursday and Friday, will hog the art limelight, even though they have a small number of lots per sale at very high prices.

Art sales in Ireland tend to have a broader spread of art at more affordable prices.

Thus you can take your pick between auction houses that target mainly those with deep pockets and those that provide something for everyone. Either way, auction houses always have a special painting or two that form the centrepiece of their sales.

Christies has put John Lavery's 'The Honeymoon' in pride of place on its website, which makes sense since it has an estimate of £500,000 ( 729,000).

Even so, Bernard Williams, the director of Irish art for Christies, says that buyers shouldn't write off the less expensive paintings, the less known names, and the Victorian and 18th-century works, but should look for good craftsmanship at any price.

He's a believer in Orpen's dictum that painters shouldn't go anywhere near watercolours or oils until they can draw. "So many contemporary artists haven't got the basics of being able to draw, " he says.

And William Orpen could certainly draw. Sotheby's is touting his work 'The Empty Bed' as one of the highlights of their sale with an estimate of £120,000 ( 175,000).

Orpen attracts a crowd at any price, not just for his drawing but for the frisson of curiosity that surrounds his personal life, which he usually represents in his paintings. There are three paintings in this sale representing the objects of his desire.

The 'Window Seat' shows his wife Grace gazing through a window. It was painted in 1901 at Lisheens House near Bantry in Co Cork when Orpen and his wife were on honeymoon.

'The Empty Bed' was painted for his mistress Evelyn St George. The affair lasted 13 years, after which Orpen was posted abroad as a war artist and during which time he met Yvonne Aubicq.

Back in Ireland, Garrett O'Connor's highlights are Frank McKelvey as well as 'Tug o' War', a painting by George Russell with an estimate of 22,000- 25,000.

Down in Cork, Morgan O'Driscoll is featuring paintings by Kenneth Webb, Pauline Bewick and Arthur Maderson as centrepieces in his sale.

Over in Galway, Niall Dolan, a medical doctor turned art dealer, has set up the first auction house to sell art in the west of Ireland. He believes that this is a timely thing to do since a large proportion of Irish art depicts life in the west of Ireland. He cites 'Spilt Roses' by Patrick Hennessy as "the real cracker" of his sale. In Laurel Park near Bray, Mullens is citing 'Great Quack Entirely', a rare and early John Kingerlee, which is new to the market with an estimate of 27,000- 30,000 as being of museum standard . . . it has connotations of Picasso's "joie de vivre".

The joys of De Vere's sale in June will be the beautiful landscape paintings that Nathaniel Hone executes so well. There are three pieces in the sale and his work is in demand since it rarely appears on the auction circuit and it is bound to attract those who deplore the scarcity of good landscape paintings.

Diary
8 May: Dolan's Irish art auction, The Courtyard, Marriott Hotel, Galway ( 6.30pm)
11 May: Sotheby's Irish sale, New Bond Street, London ( 10.30 am)
12 May: Christies 10th anniversary Irish sale, 8, King Street, St. James London
22 May: Morgan O'Driscoll art sale, Silver Springs hotel, Cork (6.30)
28 May: Mullen's Irish and European art sale, Woodbrook, Laurel Park, Bray (1pm)
29 May: Garrett O'Connor art sale, Radisson Hotel, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin( 6pm)