making up da packets of melancholia

...since before my grad show I have been sneeking these little packets into existence.
I am thrilled that my work actually got chosen , it certainly doesn,t feel like work,it has been a joy from start to finish.
I love the whole ethos behind monstertruck gallery , if you click on the packet in the right hand bar ,it takes you straight there ..really !
The show is housed in an antique cabinet and compises of 10 artists interpretation of the multiple,the work will be available to buy from next thursday the 16th july , when the show opens until the end of august.
All the work has been made as a fine art piece ,but in an affordable form ie. a multiple.
This is my statement:
I am interested in investigating the unknown quantities of feeling and emotive spaces. …melancholia to me means sad, forgotten, brooding and dark with nearly always a feeling from the past. Also quite often poignant and beautiful….like a barely heard piece of piano lonesomely being played in the flat above yours.
For my multiple I have compiled a collection of found objects that appeal to my continual search for meaning.
Unused vintage greetings cards, torn out pages from old books, pieces of my own work that don’t seem to fit in anywhere but have something worth keeping in them.
I wanted a jamboree bag feel to the packet, when the contents are viewed together they become more than the sum of their parts.
The attention given to otherwise insignificant moments, can award a magical, special and wondering meaning to that which may be lost forever, it is towards this space that my work is focused.
The love bit is very important ,…..always love ,because as Sappho said whatever one loves…is .

Candy says....

studio love

.....I spend all my available time in my studio,I love it in there so much...its a little cramped at the moment...... but thats it huh ! what can you do apart from take photos of the coherent spaces :)
in order now !....messy table , this is THE reality of how I work and I LOVE IT !!...God is our refuge and our strength..you can change god to good or love or whatever but I never get tired of this picture (1940's church hall sign)
my nest \sofa...its MINE do you hear me ,dogs/children etc..mine (well I dont mind sharing it sometimes)
My books , a very few of maybe 100 times this many at least....books are my lovers .
Tony O'Malley..Irish painter, unfortunately gone to a better place...I will never forget this man, I met him on Clare island many ,many years ago ,a total sweetheart and pure pixie.. it is his words that I see most days
never be swayed by anything but by your own work and vision.
The new image at the top of the blog is from my newly retrieved book ,that I came across in my parents attic.
This book, printed in 1968, has never left my imagination , it is totally mad ,the images one more scary than the next ,is it any wonder I am like I am ! ....but do you know what ? I absolutely love it ...Candy and Andy ..you still rock

thanks for sharing the love Meighan....

oh my...oh my ...
well you can be very sure that I really appreciate this mention from the hugely inspiring website .....myloveforyou.typepad.com,it is hosted by designer and curator Meighan O;Toole and I have been enjoying since I discovered it a few years back.
(click on my title at the top of this post........ "thanks for sharing the love meighan") and you will go straight on to her site.
If you are interested in the more under the radar type art , handmade aesthetic and d.i.y approach to art then you could go to no finer site ....yippee , I am honoured to be amongst some of my favourite artists xx

drawing it all together....

fantastical finds

various woodland friends released into my world for their new life :)
crinoline ladies are go !!
1950 tray
1970;s floral plastic cover
1950;s hunting scene fabric ..
had a great treasure hunt at the weekend monthly carboot sale,which due to the fine day was very busy. I then followed on to my lovely friend for the day ........
here are a few random shots of various intriguing (to me) finds all in the cause of furthering my quest to bring it all ....together.

at pats ...like in...in wonderland ,in heaven,in a cozy blanket,happy with a capital H

the above images are just a few to capture the day we had , what a day, my friend is a true artist in all she does and is...we went for a wonderful walk and ate lovely home made food and just had fun xx

web of exuberance is flowing real good ....real good

at miss pats loving her choclate and orange cookies,strawberries and fresh coffee on the porch of her aliceinwonderland studio..
in cool japanese cafe taking tea with my other half xx
............ life has been really full of such wonderful moments these last few weeks , how can I not get some of them down into my little blog...like how they used to place their favourite objects under a glass dome in Victorian times.I am really appreciating moments of time away from work so , so much,its like finding people again , and even having tea with them takes on a high significance.
Happy happy days.....

gathering together the tangled strands of exuberance

my altar to time and space at this time I love it even more
on friday I went to see the show of my tutor ..Denis Farrell (a major show of fantastic work ,shown at the Dock arts centre) ,in the middle of the town of Carrick-on -Shannon ,is this ode to love, it is a chapel commisioned long ago by a man for him and his wife to be buried in at their time of departure from this world to the next ..I believe the coffins have glass tops ,it is absolutely tiny and quite unique , I love to see it ,yet never have been inside.
mooning around as is my want ,I was so gladdened to see that ,there is always...always more.These poppies do this every year , hidden from view ,behind a shed ,they bloom ...I love them and their independence and pride.
I have been so loved these last few weeks ,my arrival into the art world has been heralded by hugs ,flowers and general delight by my friends and encouragers ...all of you matter to me deeply xx flowers from dear dear edith(they sing to me of the happy and loved garden where she cared for them always)...... , then bluest of blue delphiniums from dee and a snow white rose bush from pat ,a cake from mary,a felt flower clip from veronica ,a ring with a real flower in it and some blue nail varnish from karen , flowers from selmas garden ,my soul is full of flowers ,I am truelly,truelly blessed♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
Denis's show is called in memorys darkroom (www.thedock.ie) the paintings are both monumental and humble,always beautifully made ,it would not do justice to the power of seeing them for real, if I were to post them here (,its like he pulled the whole sky in and pinned it up on the wall),I noticed this hand written piece he had drawn on to the bare gallery wall......click on it and imagine why he wrote it.....
....feeling a little weak after all the work but strangely calm aswell. I am gathering all around me and tidying and smoothing down all the chaos that enivatably occurs when you reach deep into your very being for that last push needed (exhibition, graduation...blahdey blah...)

somewhere over the rainbow in the land of lemondrops and little red spots thats where I,ll find you......(its a long road that has no turn.....)

well .....today was the last day of my exhibition and was a very busy one again, meeting all the people who came in to see my work specially ! and also to meet others that came in to the whole degree show.
My road has turned a corner for sure and today I could really feel that. I have to believe what people are saying about the work ,it has now left me and its in other peoples lifes,that is a pretty powerful feeling.
I took a few parting images before I had to finally dismantle the installation ,it really comes alive when people are in the work , literally as you can see from the beautiful little boy who was very carefully showing one of my drawings in the box to his sister ,they were at the feet of his mother ,a very glamorous woman,who also was intently looking . I like these intent lookers , thanks guys !
Little Rosa and her mother cassie ,were just a total wonderful distraction to me, I love roses and to have a tiny little smiley baby ,called rosa,smiling around and being mesmerised by my rings was a lovely restful moment , thanks girls !
I think the empty but full shelf is a good image of my show, that shelf was extremely popular and delighted many people ,I felt quite sad taking down the magic tree for thumbelina and the flowers ..................

Lastly ,I have posted the corner that has worked the best ,it has a certain coherence (thanks Lorretto xx ) which I can see in the process that this week has provided me.......ie; to really SEE MY WORK IN A CONTEXT yay for contexts !

continued............

the innerworld outside finally arrived ..........

well...... as I mentioned a few posts back, I would post a few images from my graduation exhibition (which some may think a continuation of the corpus christi parade ,but which I assure you is in a slightly different context !)
I am still on a wave ,with all the favourable attention the work has received and will probably become unbearable,should it continue.
I am so very relieved to have reached this place. It has been fantastic hearing peoples reaction to what has been for so long a mainly hidden and private undertaking.....BUT ,one that always wanted to reach the outside.

a little bit of a procession

In the west of Ireland, where I live, they have a great tradition of the corpus christi procession.The houses that are passed by, make a little altar, normally in their open doorway or the front window. So you get the local town houses, pubs ,dry-cleaners,post office etc.all dusting down their statues,best vases, and fancy tableclothes and getting their garden flowers arranged all in honour of the blessed sacrament.This is held aloft under a canopy, which is always carried by the firemen.The first holy communion children are in charge of scattering petals in front of it. The petals are brought in from the childrens gardens .
I have always loved this tradition, as it is quintessentially of the locality.The local women that still do the altars, really are proud of them.Its participatory and thats good in my book. Hope you enjoy the images of what may not be here in 5 or 10 years time.

thanks for coming everyone xx

well....what can I say , it was fantastic, thank you to all my family and friends for coming to my graduation exhibition (and being super at the times I really needed you).
I was overwhelmed by the support and enthusiasm that my work was shown. It was lovely to quietly watch people leafing through my work and being so excited by it. wow !
To the people that bought my work (thank you) and the artists books that I made , well......I am pleased that I made them and that you now have them ! yipee:)
I will post photos of my exhibition next week. Now I must pack up my little market stall for tommorow is market day .
I have really enjoyed the sometimes very challenging nature of studying within a hectic home and work life , the part-time fine art degree I would recommend to anyone seriously interested in making their work more focused and stronger.
.....Lastly ,thank you to my 11 fellow classmates who too have reached a place they may never have thought possible. The journey was a lot brighter with your friendships....good luck to you all. To my tutors ,thank you for your insight and honesty at all times,I heard it and I will miss you all.......Jane x