germinating an idea

Polytunnel 122x152cm oil on canvas

I have finally finished ‘Polytunnel’. A large canvas 122x152cm in oil.  This is the first of a new series of paintings, that I hope, will culminate in a solo show in a year or so.  I wanted to explore an outdoor/indoor theme and the garden or allotment, as subject matter is, so far, proving fruitful.  I have  just sent  this first painting off to The Doorway Gallery for Christmas . I am hoping to paint a few more large paintings before my next show, so I feel I can release this one for now.

 

I thought I would share a few words about this particular painting and to elaborate on some of processes that I used in creating it. 

I usually start out with a feeling of an idea that I muse over in my head, pondering whether it will be right for translating into a painting. Therefore, the seeds for this composition started to germinate this time last year.   In our polytunnel we always seems to have an abundance of very happy wild strawberry plants, that, and the odd cabbage. Here  I had my drawing material and conveniently undercover from the inclement weather, so  by early summer I had an outline of what I wanted to paint.

In studio working on final painting 

I had several versions that came and went, but I knew I wanted a centrally placed female figure either picking strawberries or harvesting fruit within the polytunnel with a dress based on my re-interpretation of the   William Morris’s Strawberry thief pattern.    I always work from my internal visual memory when it comes to the figures in my work, but I prefer to work from life for everything else, this is not always possible but either way the problem solving exercise to build up the composition takes many forms and references sources to get to the end point before I can start on the painting itself.  When It comes to painting I let the paint and colour lead and tell me how to proceed, as for me it is all about the tactile quality of the oil paint and the emotional response to colour, that is my main concern.  The illusional and story telling of the painting is for me its starting point and just a spring board to launch myself into the language and sensory magic of paint itself. 

Sources 2015

girl with doll  52x46cm

'Source' is  a small collection of pre-exhibition paintings, they were painted prior to working on my main collection that make up my new solo show Recent Paintings 2015 which will be opening on Thursday 7^th May at The Doorway Gallery, on Frederick St South, Dublin 2.

Head Scarf 20x15cm

 Last year, I had painted quite a few bright Russian textile inspired flower paintings that have been at The Doorway Gallery.  It   was while I was looking at this source material for my new solo show,  that I became intrigued with some late 19^th Century photographs of exiled Khans, nomadic textile traders and Russian peasant girls dressed in beautiful traditional Ikat coats and ceremonial robes.

   As a result I painted this series of small oil paintings, which I am going to exhibit during the show as they help to further understand, how and why, I paint what I paint.

Walking Home 25x20cm

Fox fur 25x20cm

Little Fruit Seller 25x20cm

Ikat girl 25x20cm

Matryoshka Turquoise Vase 71x61cm

Matryoshka Amaryllis 71x61cm

Pat Kenny at Doorway Gallery Opening

Opening of the Doorway Gallery, Dublin by RTE presenter Pat Kenny.



Thanks to Inky Wrists

New Paintings New Gallery

Mount Usher Gardens 61x71cm oil on canvas

Denise Donnelly (formerly owner of the Bad Art Gallery, Dublin and Deirdre O'Connell (formerly owner of the Bridge Gallery, Ormond Quay ) have joined forces and set up the new Doorway Gallery in the bustling city centre of  South Frederick Street Dublin 2.  Along side a league of prestigious art galleries, The Doorway Gallery will be bringing its own unique stable of contemporary artists to this artistic quarter of Georgian Dublin see more info at their website http://www.thedoorwaygallery.com/.

You can see Lucy's new paintings at the new gallery now and on-line. 

Official opening will be on the 24th March, opening by Pat Kenny.

Tapestry Collection Now Online



Flower Arrangement
92 x 76 cm
Oil on canvas





A full set of images of the paintings making up the Tapestry collection can now be seen online. Link

New Working Theme: Tapestry

Tapestry
152 x 122 cm
Oil on canvas

The paintings I have been working on since my last solo show, Persephone in 2010, have been loosely based around the theme Tapestry.  Not that I have another solo show planned until 2012, so a theme is not particularly important to the way my work is going at the moment.  However, for a while now I have been thinking about the way a tapestry is constructed of thousands of individual woollen stitches and the similarities to the way I construct my paintings.  When a tapestry is completed its numerous raised stitches fuse together visually to become a readable picture as well as a tactile object in its own right. At any stage it is evident when looking at a tapestry of what it is composed of and that the identity of each component stitch still retains all its characteristics of wool.  In a modernist approach to painting I want to keep paint as pure to its original form as I can, so that it is evident to the viewer, that it is paint that they are looking at with all its individual properties of colour, texture and form still retained. I work with a palette knife which gives the surface of my paintings a lot of depth and texture. I like this tactile quality as it helps to maintain and establish the 2-dimensional reality of the canvas.