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Giving it welly: An artist's suburban heaven
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Roisin's own home is certainly a depiction of joy; her many paintings add a great vibrancy to the decor, and there are animals aplenty - cats Rhubarb and Slinky Malinky, and her lovely whippet, Bear. There are photos of the girls at various stages, and it's full of family keepsakes like her grandmother's teacups, which have featured in her paintings.
How and where do you paint?
I am blessed with a huge kitchen, with space on the side. I love to be in the thick of it with my daughters and their friends popping by, combined with the quietness during the day when it’s just me and the studio staff, Maggie the lurcher and our cats.
What advice would you give someone wanting to take up painting?
Whatever dream is lying dormant in your heart, my advice is to go for it. Not in the “quit your job and take off in a camper van” kind of way but just to make a start. So often we say “I’ll do it when I have more time, when the kids are older, when I have some time off, next year, when I retire…”
Start now, start small and keep practicing. That’s how one day we find ourselves doing what we thought impossible.
Tell us about your new exhibition at The Doorway Gallery?
I’ve been working with The Doorway Gallery for nearly nine years now; gallery owner Denise Donnelly is my cousin and she is an extraordinary women.
In this new series I’ve gone right back to the scary start. Rather than work in oils as I have for nine years, this new work allowed me to explore other textures such as acrylic, metallics and papers, as well as oils. That said, the new series will be accompanied by a selection of new works in oils that continue the themes of old world interiors and the familiar “welly boot” family portraits.
Your vibrant paintings often depict interior settings – are these real or imagined?
We’re lucky here in Ireland to have so many gorgeous period homes. I love to paint small country house hotels like Marlfield House, Castle Leslie, and Kilruddery, but I also paint real period homes. Whenever I find them and whenever their owners are happy to let me in, that is …
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Irish craft
‘A room of one’s own’ - Exhibition Roisin O'Farrell Artist
The show opens at The Doorway Gallery, 24 Sth Fredrick Street, D2.Thursday 20th of September 6pm and runs until Oct 16th.
Virgina Wolfe remarked that in order for a woman to write she must have two things “a room of one’s own and a secure living”.
Róisín has been exploring this theme in both her life and her work over the last two years. Her current exhibition is an expression of how she has navigated these two basic needs.
The paintings reflect the home in which she lives with her children and the warmth, fun and imperfect character that ‘home’ suggests. The quietness, light and sense of calm in her paintings reflect the space that Róisín has carved out of her life, both figuratively and practically, for her work.
Her style is painterly. She uses the palette knife and lots of buttery paint to describe scenes of eccentric chairs and colourful rooms. Her work is known for it’s use of strong clear colour and a sense of light.
Róisín’s success has become the thing that in itself sustains her ability to create. Her work is in high demand and is exhibited widely in established galleries in the UK and Ireland.
This solo exhibition at The Doorway Gallery will comprise 16 new paintings and opens, 6pm on Thursday September 20th, the evening before Culture Night, and will run until October 17th. Róisín will also be giving a painting demonstration at the gallery on Culture Night Sept 21st.
“Róisín O’Farrell’s work is beautiful, detailed, powerful and decidedly female” Barbara Muir
"Brimming with higgeldy piggledy personality, the colourful collection was actually inspired by her beloved grandmother's 1930's Staffordshire china, which she inherited."
"We're excited about a new series of paintings by one of Ireland's most successful and much loved contemporary artists. Known for her colourful and sumptuous works, artist Roisin O'Farrell is introducing a collection of delightful canvases based on her grandmother's antique china teacups."
