| dc.description.abstract | Seasons
A collection of new paintings
"Seasons" is a collection of paintings that represents a year in my life. I started work on the collection in the Summer of 2020, the last painting completed in June 2021, with inspiration coming from the immediate landscape around me, my garden, pets, family and home. Living in rural Wicklow means that I am continually aware of all the changes in the weather and of the seasons as they roll by. I continually paint all year round working out new compositions, slowly and tentatively circumventing an idea, fleshing it out in sketch books before feeling happy enough that it will make a painting. I often incorporate the female figure into my compositions in order to generate vitality, energy, movement and contextuality into my work.
I gather ideas from many varied and eclectic sources. For example, the large painting titled 'Seasons', which I began in the Autumn, was inspired from looking at Botticelli's 'Primavera' masterpiece and the desire to distract myself with a huge and absorbing project from all that was going on elsewhere. 'May Queen' is another of my large paintings from this collection and she was my response to the month of May and what that time of year means to me, with all its vibrant emerging growth and energy with the promise of more to come.
The short daylight hours of Winter are where my subject matter of still life, interiors, moonscapes and figurative elements become centre stage. However, even in the depths of January I begin to think of the garden as the snow drops that are already showing their greenery remind me that their delicate bobbing white flower heads, fringed with green, will follow shortly. March heralds the drama of the first swathes of show-stopping daffodils, not easy to ignore and I continue to delight to paint them. Every year I plant out more tulips and dahlias; watching them grow and bloom, so that I can gather them up, taking them into my studio to paint. I change my palette to match the mood and atmosphere I want to convey as I respond to the ever changing colours and seasons in my garden.
I set out many years ago to translate the observed the three-dimensional world around me into a two-dimensional painted surface. My objective is to create a personal truth in paint, which means that I always listen to myself when it comes to what is wrong or right in what I paint. I paint what is real and personal to me and what feels positive and wholesome. In this way I find an equilibrium and balance, which helps me feel grounded and connected to what matters and feeds my soul. What has been so wonderful for me, is the way people respond and enjoy my work. It is such an additional blessing and honour to know that the paintings I create live on in others.
Lucy Doyle | en |
