Paintings to smile at

A new exhibition of paintings in the Good Food Gallery is guaranteed to raise a smile, because it shows everyday animals in a quirky and humourous way.



The paintings are by Liza Kavanagh of Martinstown, who says they represent a 'sort of seasonal diary' in visual terms.

"I see chickens every day, and guinea fowl and geese," she says. "These are all things I see while taking my children to school. My cat is in several paintings, because he's hilarious and I just feel the need to paint him."

A mother of two young children, she feels she gets much of her inspiration from them, and from her memories of childhood, including favourite nursery rhymes.

"My dad was a great story-teller, and I had a whole exhibition based on things like The Owl and the Pussycat, and Toy Soldiers. It was really bright and vivid and I wondered afterwards if I didn't have Evie and Jack, would I ever have done that?"

The exhibition runs through the next few weeks. Liza is pictured above on the left with Gaye Brabazon, and Sue Carey of the Good Food Gallery.