Legends are Anna's inspiration

The latest art exhibition at the Good Food Gallery might well be an opportunity to find a special gift for a special person in one's life, writes Brian Byrne.

The pieces on display are all based on the nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and Irish heroic mythology which we all heard as children.

Ann McKenna has been drawing and painting since 'as long as I can remember' she told the Diary at last week's opening of a collection of her prints, produced by intaglio etching at the Leinster Print Studio in Clane.

The pieces reflect the importance to her of the story as much as of the art itself. "I'm totally interested in the narrative of the subject matter, of the drama involved. I remember as a child my parents had a book by the 19th century author and illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, and I spent hours and hours reading it, looking at the illustrations and getting into the stories behind them."

Her Kilcullen exhibition features elements from The Emperor's New Clothes, Cindarella, situations from Alice in Wonderland, and details from The Children of Lir, among others.

Mixing the juggle of raising her family and working at her art is something Ann finds relatively easy. "Once they're out the door, I'm back at my painting," she grins. "Every day, I don't do anything else when I have the time for the work."

A full version of this story is published in this week's Kildare Nationalist.