The Artist

About the Artist

I come from a family of highly creative people. From a very young age, I spent a lot of time in my dad’s workspace. He was a small-time builder/carpenter. My mum had a knitting machine in her bedroom and a sewing machine in the sitting room where she designed and made clothes. It was a fantastic space for a child, great liveliness with creativity. I am dyslexic so school was difficult in the ’60s, with no support. Through art, I gained confidence.
Following on into adulthood, I lived overseas for 25 years in different parts of the UK, Australia, and the USA. I returned to Ireland when my eldest daughter was entering second-level education. I returned to 3rd level education and completed a (BA) Hons in Fine Art at IADT Dun Laoghaire. On completion, I developed a successful career in 2D/3D art forms including organising exhibitions and fundraising projects.
In 2020, I committed myself to developing my art practice, which has now reached a level of sophistication, with knowledge behind recent works.
My art studio address:
Colpe Road,
Donacarney,
Co. Meath

About My Art Practice

As an artist, creativity is a private vision, thus, for me, connection to my inner worlds of imagination and a willingness to be myself are crucial in provoking a new reality in a semi abstract form. This inner search for a connection to my imagination focusses on self-mirror images: a face, a figure, a landscape.

The private space of my studio – its peace and silence that shuts out the chaos of life – is the gateway to my interior world where imagination and creativity coalesce.  This creative space is unbounded and unstructured which generates a mental excitement and thrill.  Consequently, my art practice is a liberal, mostly experimental exploration of both Nature and my surroundings.

In essence, the paint on the brush generates its own passion that carries me on a highly charged moment -by-moment journey where I am living through the paint, the performance more important and exciting that the conclusion, the ‘how I paint’ more important than the ‘what I paint’: it most be expressive , spontaneous, highly charged – almost frenetic.  This intensity means that there is a constant shifting between direct media – painting, drawing, screen printing, mono printing, photographic trace, collage.

Flexibility is key. This liberal, almost laissez-faire, approach, combined with a manipulation of colour mixes , often leads to works that, while not immediately recognisable, have their distinctive identity.  Faces and figures are my greatest inspiration: I aim to create something like, but different from, Edvard Munch.  His ability to produce a mood and emotion that is felt by the viewer – as, for example Scream – sums up perfectly what I try to achieve.

In 2020 I committed myself to developing my art practice, which has now reached a level of sophistication, with knowledge behind my recent works.