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In my practice, painting is a pattern making tool, where I work out the stitches and surfaces I then used to create textiles. Over the years these preparatory pieces have emerged as works in themselves and carry the struggle that I imagine all artists experience between what is seen and what is recorded. With my brush I weaved together a pattern of dashes and marks that one day become stitches.
Inspired by a fragment of Willow Pattern china unearthed in the development of the towpath by the River Suir, these pieces celebrate The Blueway. The intricate patterns of the original china are layered in rich tones of blue and elevated with gold leaf and record the walkers experience on this most beautiful of walks.
The place itself matters: Remnants recalls my experiences of walking in the townland of Sillaheen, County Waterford, in the parish of Kilronan and the barony of Glenahiry. From Sillaheen, I can see the homes of my parents, grandparents and great grandparents. A partially remembered past unravels in famine roads, mass paths, fords and old short cuts through the mountains. The dense textures of memory press down upon this place.