grainne_oreilly_2005

G R A I N N E . O ' R E I L L Y

My work is subjective and intimate even though when it is broken down into an abstract, modernist style it becomes removed and ambiguous. When I paint a room or my back garden I imagine it from an arial view, and enjoy the arrangement of the composition according to shape and colour. The palette starts off fresh and clean and becomes more interesting as the series develops.
........ ........The work is generally in series, of anything between 4 to 24 pieces - they flow from one series to another but sometimes they don't develop and come to a dead end. In this case I start a new series from a different angle. I usually start a series with an image in my mind and draw until I decide the palette and composition, I paint rapidly and prolifically. I work with children in a community art capacity and take a lot of inspiration from the honesty and directness of children's paintings. I try to keep the same lack of pretensions in my own work which keeps changing and moving as I move through the different series.
........ ........Life drawing and portraiture are continuous in my practice, and I like to catch something in a portrait that a photograph might not. It is important to me (and the sitter) that I capture a good likeness and I think the portraits and my other work have an interesting pull or tension between them. It is difficult to talk about my work as a whole as it tends to vary quite a lot as it progresses. Each series has its own particular characteristics, but in common there is a strong interest in architecture, composition, and an instinctive approach to line and colour.

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