An artistic view of the Curragh
When Grainne Dowling's husband walks with her on the Curragh, writes Brian Byrne, he sees it much differently than when he first experienced the place as a military cadet enduring tough training stints across the famous Co Kildare plains.
"Over those two years, all I wanted to see was the place in my rear-view mirror," Brian Dowling quipped at the recent launch of Grainne's exhibition of paintings in the Good Food Gallery. "I didn't see the beauty then. But since we came to live in the area two years ago, it has become a totally different place for me."
Grainne's exhibition comprises eight pieces of abstract art which reflect her own journeys across the Curragh, sometimes walking her dog, occasionally following sheep or hare tracks, always exploring parts of the unique short grass country in which she finds details which will eventually generate her art.
"There are particular walks which I do, and various directions where I go, and there are things that I see which I remember in the paintings," she says.
If the casual viewer finds it difficult to relate the paintings to the familiar Curragh landscape, that's because Grainne's way of depicting things isn't in the realistic format. She takes the more difficult road, so to speak.
"I can say what I want to better in abstract," she says. "But that's more difficult to do than in a realistic work. It takes a long time to find my feelings in a painting, and I also have to be able to recognise that when it happens."
New to the Curragh -- she and Brian have been living in Athgarvan for just two years -- Grainne says she finds a similar 'majesty' there as she did in her native west of Ireland. From Ballina, much of her previous works have been based on the beaches and landscapes of Connemara, and particularly on the island of Inishboffin.
And just like at those edge parts of this island, there is a significant water element in her work. "That's in part because there is a lot of water related to the Curragh. When I'm walking it, there are times when I wonder if I can actually do so. And there's a sense also that there is very little between the surface and the aquifer beneath."
Grainne's work is not where you'll find a traditional landscape of the Curragh. It come out of how she and the geography of the area interact at a more cerebral level than just the optics.
Maybe it's a reaction with a small detail. One which she decides to elevate to its true value in her own way. And hopefully, that something of what she sees will be seen by whomever looks at the final painting.
Grainne has her own workspace at home in Athgravan. A studio a little apart from the fulltime job of managing a home and family. She tries to get out there every day, doesn't always achieve that. But there are times when she will get up in the early hours with an idea needing expression, and stay out there until the children come home from school.
When the snow fell before Christmas, her first thoughts were that she couldn't go anywhere, not least to the Curragh which was her current place of inspiration. And a part of nature to which she could repair within a few minutes, unlike during the two decades before when she had lived in Cork city.
"Then I realised that not only could I not go out, I didn't need to. I could just go to my studio, and work without any actual pressure to paint. I was able to use the time to learn something more." That's the thing about being an artist. If you are one, learning doesn't stop.
Nor does the nervousness when you put your artistic 'children' out to public view. "It is putting my soul out there, and there is no taking it back. But then somebody buys a piece, and I think I'm so lucky that I have produced something which somebody relates enough to, to want to have."
Still, like whatever in life defines any one individual, possibly the most important aspect of her art is both simple and complex. "It gives me my identity," she says.
Grainne Dowling's exhibition will run for eight weeks in the Good Food Gallery.
This article was first published in the Kildare Nationalist.
"Over those two years, all I wanted to see was the place in my rear-view mirror," Brian Dowling quipped at the recent launch of Grainne's exhibition of paintings in the Good Food Gallery. "I didn't see the beauty then. But since we came to live in the area two years ago, it has become a totally different place for me."
Grainne's exhibition comprises eight pieces of abstract art which reflect her own journeys across the Curragh, sometimes walking her dog, occasionally following sheep or hare tracks, always exploring parts of the unique short grass country in which she finds details which will eventually generate her art.
"There are particular walks which I do, and various directions where I go, and there are things that I see which I remember in the paintings," she says.
If the casual viewer finds it difficult to relate the paintings to the familiar Curragh landscape, that's because Grainne's way of depicting things isn't in the realistic format. She takes the more difficult road, so to speak.
"I can say what I want to better in abstract," she says. "But that's more difficult to do than in a realistic work. It takes a long time to find my feelings in a painting, and I also have to be able to recognise that when it happens."
New to the Curragh -- she and Brian have been living in Athgarvan for just two years -- Grainne says she finds a similar 'majesty' there as she did in her native west of Ireland. From Ballina, much of her previous works have been based on the beaches and landscapes of Connemara, and particularly on the island of Inishboffin.And just like at those edge parts of this island, there is a significant water element in her work. "That's in part because there is a lot of water related to the Curragh. When I'm walking it, there are times when I wonder if I can actually do so. And there's a sense also that there is very little between the surface and the aquifer beneath."
Grainne's work is not where you'll find a traditional landscape of the Curragh. It come out of how she and the geography of the area interact at a more cerebral level than just the optics.
Maybe it's a reaction with a small detail. One which she decides to elevate to its true value in her own way. And hopefully, that something of what she sees will be seen by whomever looks at the final painting.
Grainne has her own workspace at home in Athgravan. A studio a little apart from the fulltime job of managing a home and family. She tries to get out there every day, doesn't always achieve that. But there are times when she will get up in the early hours with an idea needing expression, and stay out there until the children come home from school.
When the snow fell before Christmas, her first thoughts were that she couldn't go anywhere, not least to the Curragh which was her current place of inspiration. And a part of nature to which she could repair within a few minutes, unlike during the two decades before when she had lived in Cork city.
"Then I realised that not only could I not go out, I didn't need to. I could just go to my studio, and work without any actual pressure to paint. I was able to use the time to learn something more." That's the thing about being an artist. If you are one, learning doesn't stop.
Nor does the nervousness when you put your artistic 'children' out to public view. "It is putting my soul out there, and there is no taking it back. But then somebody buys a piece, and I think I'm so lucky that I have produced something which somebody relates enough to, to want to have."
Still, like whatever in life defines any one individual, possibly the most important aspect of her art is both simple and complex. "It gives me my identity," she says.
Grainne Dowling's exhibition will run for eight weeks in the Good Food Gallery.
This article was first published in the Kildare Nationalist.
