Sept 3 1995 - RIP Dad

It's been 19 years since my Dad passed away. Where did that time go? Dad is a presence in my life, most especially obvious in my love of music. My Dad was a musician (double bass and guitar) and a carpenter. Though I don't play any instruments, music is an important part of my life and I have always loved making things -- painting being my prime focus.

In 1996 my double installation exhibition in The Basement Gallery (Dundalk) entitled "Pastures Green and Dreaming for Dad" was both a memorial to my Dad and a celebration of life. After passing through two large painted curtains of calla-lilies in the smaller room, one encountered a small icon diptych. The curtains were set away from the wall in such a way that the lighting cast a great shadow. The curtains are each 226 cm x 162.5 cm, acrylic on polyester net curtain.

Calla Lilies Icon (Dreaming for Dad), mixed media on handmade paper, 17.5 cm x 25 cm (diptych).

Recently I came across a reference to William Shatner meeting a "sawyer" at a desert diner and wondering what that was. Well I had never heard the word in terms of someone who played the saw musically, but that was how it was explained to Bill...It reminded me, however, of my Dad and the day he bought me a lovely saw and then pulled out his bass bow and showed me that the saw could be played to produce an eerie sound.

Dad, mixed media on wood, 23 cm x 15.5 cm, 2009, collection of Tallie Whelan, Ireland.

Growing Up...For Elise

The other day my daughter was asking me questions about "growing up" and the perspective of an adult as opposed to a child. I don't think my responses were coherent, but it certainly got me thinking about the upcoming changes. Last night a parent-student meeting was held at my daughter's new school as she started secondary this week (in Ireland, secondary school starts after grade six is finished - there is no in-between transitions as there are in the public school system of Canada). Of course the years have gone by in the blink of an eye yet the memories and emotions relating to the my daughter's birth remain fresh. In 2005 my husband and I had a joint exhibition "For Elise" in honour of our daughter, with our work (my husband is a sculptor) inspired by her birth three years before and the new parenting experience for both of us. So here are a few images of some of my work included in that exhibition.

The two stripes of a positive pregnancy test made their way into a number of my paintings, including this one from 2004, "Positive", mixed media on paper, 15 cm x 23 cm.

 Pears, to me, are an appropriate symbol of fecundity. One of my aunt's had given me a bag of pears from her garden in 2000 before I was pregnant and I did a lot of drawings of them before eating! They also made their way into a lot of work at this time. This is "Worth the Wait III", mixed media on handmade paper, 17.5 cm x 25 cm, diptych, 2003.

"Good News I", mixed media on handmade paper, 17.5 cm x 25 cm, diptych, 2003.

"The Happiest Day II", mixed media on handmade paper, 17.5 cm x 25 cm, diptych, 2003.

One aspect of my work at the time looked at objects of my daughter's affection and I began painting her favourite toys. At 12 my daughter still adores her stuffies! "Mr Happy", mixed media on canvas, 30.5 cm x 25 cm, 2005.

Nicolas de Stael - Picasso Museum, Antibes

 I was in Antibes last week enjoying the company, hot weather and warm water of the beautful blue Mediterranean! I also had the chance to enjoy a visit to the gorgeous Picasso Museum at the Chateau Grimaldi. This year is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nicolas de Stael (born Jan 5 1914) whose work is well represented at the Picasso Museum. To mark the anniversary, there was a special exhibition "The Nude Figure, 1951-1955" which included work borrowed from other collections as well as works in the museum's own collection. This is a photo of de Stael in his studio, easily found with a google search. I especially love photos of artists in their studios!

This painting, "Portrait of Anne" was in the large exhibition entrance room (the one that contains the huge musical painting from the permanent collection - I posted a picture of it after last year's visit). De Stael had a daughter named Anne, but I do not know if this is a painting of her.

The second room of the exhibition contained a lot of large, minimal line drawings, ink on paper which I enjoyed looking at.

There was a smaller room with medium size charcoal drawings and line drawings.

I love the broad strokes of charcoal defining the figure by it's shadow only.

 "Reclining Nude, Blue" is in the permanent collection and usually on display whenever I am at the Picasso Museum. It is always a pleasure to see.

I wished that the catalogue to the exhibition had an English translation as there were a lot of images reproduced. Unfortunately only the introduction had been translated and flipping through it I could see that there was a fair amount of text!

Fever Afterimages - oilstick drawings

A few years ago - my concept of time is in fluxus, so who really knows how long ago it really was - one of my other artist sisters said she was only going to use materials she had to hand before she started buying new materials. With a studio full of, well, everything, I think this is a good idea but one I have not been good at sticking to. However, when I came across some card which I had prepared with gesso and an undercoat of paint some years ago, I thought the pieces would make a good base for some oilstick drawings. I located my large cookie tin of oilsticks, which I haven't looked at in some years. Oh good, they are still usable! So here is my drawing set-up, with the first of three prepared cards ready to exploit. My trusty jar of Swarfega gel hand-cleaner (green lidded red jar at left) has liquefied over the years but it still works a treat at the end of a drawing session!

I haven't yet given a title (other than "unitled") to these drawings which are part of my Fever Afterimages series.

All three drawings are oilstick and graphite on gessoed card.

44 cm length x 50 cm width.

Galway

Last week I found myself in Galway during the Arts Festival -- much surprised that I was able to get a place to stay at the last minute (my daughter is in the Connemara Gaeltacht an hour a way from Galway and begged for a parental visit!). Although I have been to Galway a number of times, I hadn't been to the festival since 1988. The weather was great, and it was a short and pleasant walk to the centre of town from the b&b in Salthill. One of the first things to catch my attention was a potter's market in the green area in front of this building with a mural on it. I was hoping for a food market as I was hungry, so didn't spend too much time exploring the potter's stalls.

Galway was hopping!

From a distance I thought this public sculpture by John Coll was a religious sculpture marking a church (St. John perhaps?). As I got closer I saw the boat and suspected the bird was an albatross so it more likely is to be associated with Galway Bay which it overlooks.

After finding a bite to eat (during which there was a rain shower) I made my way to Eyre Square (aka John F. Kennedy Park). I hadn't notice the Browne Doorway on previous visits to Galway. The doorway was taken from a mansion ruin and relocated to Eyre Square in 1905.

Also in Eyre Square is the steel fountain sculpture created by Eamon O'Doherty. The form of the sculpture recalls Galway hooker sailing ships.

The Tidal Series

Recently I came upon an image of Andrew Wyeth's painting "Christina's World", a painting I loved as soon as I saw it in New York on my first visit there in spring 1980. It was nice to be reminded of this painting and also to remember it's associations for me and effects on my own work.

In 1980 one of my sisters, her husband and young daughter were moving back to Ireland. In the week before they left I was minding my baby niece and did a sketch of us (by mirror) which I shortly thereafter turned into a painting, "Me & Jess". In this painting I was wearing my favourite outfit at the time, a turquoise skirt (with tiny Miro-like patterns on it!) and a red tank top.

This outfit later was a way of identifying myself in drawings, paintings and collages. After I finished my Fine Art degree in 1986 I was suddenly hit with a moment of insecurity about my future as an artist. After speaking to a friend about my lack of ideas and unsureness of where my art was going, I could not sleep and had a vision of a series of works which I later came to understand as transformation. I remember clearly leaping from my bed and gathering paper and pastels to furiously draw the images (at this time I was using both hands for drawing) before the idea disappeared.

In the first drawing (above) the figure is crawling to the water. This is the drawing which I associate with "Christina's World". In later drawings the figure encounters something in the water - her reflection, her spirit, her home - and becomes one with it before transforming into a red-sailed green boat, sailing through the firmament. This image of the boat often appeared in my dreams at the time, and was most definitely me. The image below is one of the later drawings, where I imagine some spinning happening and the yellow will later turn into stars.

I had planned to do a series of 27 paintings based on these drawings before I turned 28. I did 18 of the paintings, but never felt they had the same energy as the drawings, so abandoned the project as I began other work. I then got ready for my first move to Ireland (Aug 1988) and began my first "Great Purge" in which I destroyed quite a lot of my work and belongings, as I could not store or take everything with me. I did cut out one of the figures from one of the paintings, and that remains with me, in a corner on the wall in my attic.

Alain de Botton!

Back in January I came across an article in Brainpickings "How Art Can Save Your Soul" that had a link to the video below:

After watching this I was hooked on Alain de Botton! He is a thinker who speaks and writes with a wonderful combination of intense honesty, erudition, humour and accessibility! In the video he mentions that he is going to be a guest curator at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 2014 and wants to make the galleries thematically approachable relating to human emotions rather than by the date of execution of an artwork. At the time I imagined this being a pretty near impossible feat as it would require some major re-hanging --  I have been to the Rijksmuseum and a small local gallery it ain't!

So it was interesting to have my attention drawn to this article in The Correspondent where the author is defending de Botton's curation of the Rijksmuseum. Apparently he did not re-hang the entire museum but had notes throughout the museum to give some direction on how to look at various paintings and how to enhance your museum experience.

Alain de Botton explains The Battle of Gibraltar. Photo: Herman Wouters/Hollandse Hoogte

Having just finished "How to Think More About Sex", an immensely readable and enjoyable small book from the School of Life (founded by de Botton), I was delighted to read about de Botton's insights into the Rijksmuseum, as sadly I don't think it is on the cards for me to get to see the museum again in person any time soon.

Street Art

The topic of street art is a huge one that interests me. I love being surprised by street art -- such as images of Space Invaders, colourful and pixellated as tiles affixed on building walls in both Bray and Barcelona, or plaster heads peering at me disapprovingly as I make my way home from the Harbour Bar in Bray! [This series, "Lose the Heid" was created by Bray-based Scots artist Gibb.]  I recently read an illuminating article in Brainpickings on Shepard Fairley, the street artist/graphic designer, known for his Obama "hope" posters. Fairey's "Obey" campaign is fascinating and he talks about it in this very short YouTube film directed by Brett Novak.

In Toronto in the 80s there was a street artist who bolted lacquered and painted books to public places (lamp posts, chain link fences around parking lots, etc.). I lived in the downtown area and was always happy and amazed to come across these pieces unexpectedly. The works were definitely site-specific with the image content subversively appropriate to their location. Unfortunately it never occurred to me to take photographs at the time. I do remember though that the pieces were noticed by the powers-that-be in the city; since property would be destroyed by cutting the bolts to remove the books, the decision was made to send a worker out to paint all the artworks white...At least one was missed near where I lived on Queen St. West, as it was bolted near ground level, and could only be noticed if, say, you were crawling home along the pavement (not that strange an idea at Queen & Bathurst in 1988).

In 1997 I took part in the Ireland & Europe exhibition/symposium hosted by the Sculptors Society of Ireland. I created a series of stencils which included the stars from the European flag and the name of each member country of the EU printed in both its own language and in Irish. The irony of being "allowed" to create graffiti on the streets of central Dublin (around Parnell Square) was not lost on me! I enjoyed the performative quality of the piece too, as I created the graffiti in broad daylight and spoke to anyone who stopped to enquire as to what I thought I was doing!

From 2009 to 2012 I (and various friends & members of family) engaged in the stickering project Placement© in which small stickers with images of my artistic oeuvre were surreptitiously placed at locations around the world. Cities such as New York, London, Toronto, Chicago, and Prague got their fair share of Placement© stickers.

But other locations included a ski chair lift in Lake Tahoe, USA

and overlooking the Mediterranean Sea at Antibes, France.

Quite a few placements were also made in smaller towns and rural areas of Ireland as well as unusual places on airplanes! For more information on Placement© look here.

African Flower Blanket

I have had tendonitis since May, so I have not been able to work on my crochet for awhile now. I am chomping at the bit to get back to it! I estimate that I have at most only one fifth of the African flowers that I need to make the big blanket that I want. Here is the jumble that I am working with:

I spread the flowers over the duvet to get an idea of how much space they would take up and an idea of how they would go together.

I took another photo with the flash to see if it would show the colours better. You get an idea of the foreground flowers anyway. My design is to have random and non-repeating colours on two of the layers but the petals are always red and the outline is always cream.

They are going to be crocheted together so that there is a small ridge where they join. I like this look. Hopefully I will get to work on it soon! I have to start joining and continue making more flowers. In the meantime, my great niece's birthday is coming up soon, so I have to finish her bag - just the drawstring and the pompoms to complete.

Astronautical Inspiration!

I am in the middle of reading Col. Chris Hadfield's memoir. It is both enjoyable and very down to earth! I first heard about the book in a Brainpickings article in January and was determined to read it. The best way for me to read a book is to get it as a gift for my husband, so I did this at the earliest opportunity (our anniversary in Feb). I would highly recommend this book!

Along with millions of others, I first became aware of the Canadian astronaut (my proud Canadian self is rearing its head!) through YouTube videos, especially his version of David Bowie's Space Oddity

Col. Hadfield made lots of short videos while at the space station, check them out on his YouTube channel. Here is another of my favourites - showing what happens if you cry in space.

Elderflowers and Rose Petals!

Summer's here, hurray! Time to prepare for the winter, hahaha. We discovered a few years ago that as well as our annual blackberry foraging, there are things to do with flower petals that are very delicious. I help with the collecting, and my husband makes non-alcoholic cordials and wines from rose petals, gorse flowers, elderflowers and elderberries.  Catch the elderflowers before they are all gone. They only bloom for a few weeks in June, but they are versatile and magnificent!

My husband makes a beautiful wine and a non-alcoholic cordial from elderflowers. He has already made a batch of cordial (we drank one bottle and 2 other small bottles are in the freezer) and prepared a gallon of wine. But the weather has been so nice and the flowers are not gone yet, so we went out this morning and got some more bunches for another batch of wine (which tastes  similar to ice wine, verrrrry nice). For the cordial you need 6-8 heads of elderflower in full bloom, 1 pint water, zest & juice of 2 lemons and 175 g caster sugar. Stir sugar and water over medium heat till sugar dissolves; add elderflower heads and bring to boil for 5 mins. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and zest. Cover and leave to infuse 24 hours before straining and bottling. Dilute to taste (sparkling water or prosecco!). For the cordial the eldeflower heads are left intact and strained later, but for wine the flowers need to be removed from their stems or the wine will be bitter.

The elderflower wine recipe is a little more complicated (recipes are easily available online) but the ingredients are the same as for cordial - flowers, lemon, sugar and water!

Wild roses are also in bloom on hedgerows everywhere. This is our wild rose bush that we brought with us from Kerry in 1996 and now happily resides beside the fuschia hedge in our front garden.

I love wild roses. Ours are pink, but they also are abundant in white. The pink petals are preferable for a cordial just because the end product looks nice!

To make the cordial, you need about 2 generous handfuls of petals with bitter white "claws" removed, juice of 1 lemon, 500 ml water and 300 g sugar. Simmer water, petals and lemon juice for 15 mins. Strain and return liquid to pot; add sugar to the rose water and heat till sugar has dissolved. Simmer 5 mins before filling sterilised bottles or jars.

Add sparkling water to the cordial for a soft drink, or add prosecco for a sparkly adult drink. Better yet, make rose petal martinis and enjoy the great weather!

Encaustic

I recently read an article by Morgan Meis relating to "No Regrets" an exhibition by Jasper Johns at MoMA, New York. As well as getting me thinking about a number of artistic issues, it also got me to thinking about encaustic painting. Jasper Johns was the main artist whose work I looked at in the 80s for guidance on this medium. Johns flag paintings from the 1950s, inspired by a dream, encapsulate the visceral tendency of pure paint: with encaustic painting the immediacy of each brushstoke is preserved.

On my first trip to New York while at art school in the early 80s, I would have come across Johns's work at either the MoMA or Whitney and fallen in love with the painterliness.

I was also interested in Johns's use of newsprint layers providing extra surface texture on the canvas.

I found out that encaustic is a mixture of beeswax, oil paint and turpentine melted and mixed together and I began my own experiments with the medium. The mixture is applied while melted and therefore still warm. Although I did a few paintings on canvas they do not exist any more, nor did I photograph them. The only thing I have left to show that I ever painted in encaustic is a photograph of a large triptych on paper. This hung on the walls of several of my apartments in Toronto, until, with all my moving around, it totally fell apart.

Last year, while participating in The Big Egg Hunt Dublin (fundraiser for the Jack and Jill Foundation) I was delighted to make the acquaintance of Niamh O'Connor, whose encaustic egg I had admired. On meeting me, I remember that Niamh was surprised to meet another artist who was familiar with encaustic. She might have found it amusing to see me delightedly sniffing the heady beeswax and oil smell of her giant yellow egg, reminiscing with myself about this wonderful medium.