North Clare Coastlines Inspiring Ann’s Paintings

CLONLARA artist Ann Daly is currently staging her second solo exhibition in Kilmallock, County Limerick, until the end of September. The exhibition, entitled God’s Country, features a selection of paintings that capture the beautiful landscapes and sceneries of the Liscannor and Doolin coastlines.

As well as exhibiting at the Friarsgate Theatre, Kilmallock, Ann will be participating in Culture Night at Contact Studios, the studio space she shares with 14 other artists close to St Joseph’s Hospital on Mulgrave Street in Limerick City.

On Culture Night, the studio will be open from 5pm to 10pm to afford members of the public a chance to meet and greet the artists in residence and view their works. Ann is among a number of Clare artists based at Contact Studios.

Speaking about her current exhibition, she explains the featured paintings mainly encompass scenes from Liscannor, a place she is all too familiar with.
“I paint mainly Clahane, Liscannor, Doolin, which is where I am most familiar, as my mother, Mary Howe, is from Liscannor and I often care for my 92-year-old grandfather, Mick Howe. I spend a lot of time there and it’s where my heart lies and I feel most comfortable with the dark and moody skies and crashing waves,” she says.

In deciding on a title for the exhibition, she chose God’s Country because she says it is a phrase often used by her grandfather as he gazes out across Liscannor bay.
“He always says this is God’s country. His house is on the cliff edge there and it is very blustery and windy there but it is beautiful and that’s where I get my inspiration from. I paint there because I have a huge love for the area. My paintings are usually of winter scenes, rather than sunny days. My paintings would be dark and moody but the light comes through to show the beauty,” Ann said.

Ann is co-founder of a pop-up gallery in Killaloe, known as The Gallery, which will remain there until the end of November. She exhibits there with three other artists, Lynn Kelly, Aileen Minogue and Anne Behan McConnor.

Meanwhile, her works can also be viewed at Mark Anderson Brassiere restaurant, Ogonnelloe.

Ann works with oil and wax, using palette knives, brushes and paints with passion in order to gain the atmosphere of the fresh landscape of the sea. The work is both light and dark.
Her work is inspired by the layered and rough brush technique of older Rembrandt and, more recently, contemporary artists such as Henry Morgan and Donald Teskey.