Mairead Emfada Art Fine Art

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Inspiration: Celtic Art/Nature

SET 1

Temporarily entitled 'Autumn Nov 1'. Medium = Acrylic on canvas 80 x 80cms.

"It was never planned...it was one of those meant to be creations...sent from the sky, be it from God or Mother Nature.
I woke up one November morning and every leaf had fallen from the trees overnight. It was as if someone had just
pressed a switch and autumn appeared. I don't ever remember this happenings before (only with snow).
Perhaps it's due to global warming or perhaps it was all the fireworks in the city the night before.

That day I went to the park and I was so overwhelmed by the colours
of the leaves. Layers upon layers of earthy browns, beige, illuminous cadmium yellows, mauvish-crimson, voluptuous
reds & oranges... I just rushed to the art store to buy a ready made stretched canvas and went straight home to mix
and apply the colours. The fleshy tones in the painting symbolize my mortal human skin just at that very moment as I feel connected
and in touch with the natural world and its universal energy. The blue in the centre is the channel/portal hole via travel from one emotion
and spiritual experience to another, the process I go through as I feel this. Life is a gift."

This work is entitled 'Garden Exotic' 76 x 120 cm

Medium = Acrylic on canvas

"Inspired by visits to the Botanic Gardens.

(I also have a poem of the same title that I penned during art college in Belfast which I later developed
into a song. In this painting I address the subject of cosmic order.)"

SET 2

LLife Drawing (Girls Reading). Medium = Conte crayon. (2 minute study).

Life Drawing. Medium = Conte crayon. (5 minute study).

Life Drawing (experiment). Medium = Lead Pencil.

"The drawing above is a result of an experiment:

During life drawing class I was having
problems with capturing the models in true depth and composition. The models seemed unconnected with the surroundings
it was as though she/he was floating in space and not fixed within the room. So I sketched it using my left hand instead
of my right and to my delight the problem was solved.

e.g. on one occasion I subconsciously drew a big bum in the
centre of the canvas leaving no space on the page for the upper torso
and lower legs. I didn't realize until two of my art lecturers pointed it out. How embarrassing! The composition was bad, but the paintwork was great... so I decided to keep it... and have it entitled 'Bum'.

Just a little bit of reverse psychology!"

Entitled: 'Thread Men 1'. Embroidery. During life drawing class I use a sewing machine
and cotton threads on paper & linen.

Still Life (Blue). Medium = Gouache

. .

SET 3

Entitled 'Snow'. Medium = Watercolour.

"A simple painting of an Irish winter landscape.

I was quite nervous when I started this painting this as it was my very first
attempt to paint a snow scene... never mind a watercolour snow scene.

(As unlike oils or acrylics... if you make a mistake while painting with watercolours you can't correct it!)

I also discovered
how economic it is to paint snow scenes with this medium... all the white you can see
on this painting is actually not paint but the paper and you don't need very many colours."

Entitled 'The Forestry'. Medium = Embroidery/Cotton fabric, threads, tissue, wire, wool, organic matter & Watercolour paint.

"I worked from a photograph of a nostalgic piece
of the landscape where I grew up in Ireland. This piece of work started out as a simple watercolor painting.
I wasn't happy with the results so I started to rip it up.
Then I remember the voice of one of my art teachers saying
"never tear any piece of artwork up just because you don't like it".
I happened to be sitting near my sewing machine at the time
and got the idea that maybe I should just sew it back together again.
And So I did. Both machine and hand sewing.
Adding more and more... building it up in layers. I used coloured threads, wire, gauze, linen, tissue paper, dried flowers etc.

To create the sheep... & just to amuse myself... I went out and collected wool from the fences nearby to create/sew the little wooly sheep!
I also punched thousands of pin holes through the painting to give it even more texture.

I then got it box framed with a slit cut out of the top of the frame so the display light can shine through and enhance the
textured 3D effect.

This is proof and a message to you that you should never quit
on any piece of work too soon... at least keep it until you have the patience to deal with it ".

SET 3

Entitled: 'Gorse '. Medium = Watercolour & Gouache (on brown paper mounted on card).

"A very dominant feature of Irelands landscape. The yellow flowers have a coconut smell and in the late summer
when the flowers are in full bloom the essence is more potent and hard to ignore if you walk along
the country lanes.

Here with the naked eye I have zoomed in on only a small section of the branch and recorded my impression.

Notice how the delicate buds and soft gentle petals contrast with the lethal thorns."

'Gorse' Detail

'Gorse' inverted.

SET 4

Entitled: 'The Harvest'. Medium = Watercolour.

. .
'The Harvest' Detail.

Entitled 'At The Fairy Tree'' .......Medium = Watercolour and biro pen.

'Zebra Crossing' Detail

Entitled:'Daisy Croft'. Medium = Watercolour.

'Daisy Croft' Inverted.

SET 5

Final Major Art and Design Project.

The aim was to create a 2D and 3D piece.

"I prepared and carved a ceramic panel from slabs of earthenware
approximate 7ft x 4ft.
After biscuit firing from recipes I applied glazes/oxides, on-glazes and coloured glass to decorate.
To complete the work I created a ceramic 3D sky-scraper and another architectural structures which brought
the ceramic panels to life while displayed under directed spotlights incorporating materials from the various construction
sites I had visited.

Basically what I ended up with was a 3rd Dimensional ceramic painting."

These are some observational studies from my Final Major.

Entitled 'Coach House, Strand Road'. Medium = Chalk pastels.

Entitled: 'Demolition 1' . Medium = Watercolour paints and black felt-tip.

"I painted this in view from above looking down unto the demolition site of an derelict building.
At first glance you probably don't see the bulldozer in the centre as it's camouflaged amongst a collage of lines, shapes and
bright colors. Like a metal dinosaur, the machine gnaws and tears away at all before him.
Here I've attempted to capture the movement of the falling debris, the sheets of breaking glass, shredded
wood, concrete, metal pipes/gauze e.t.c...The scene was forever changing and I had to work extremely fast,
capturing the most dominating shapes...tomorrow would be too late as the building would have vanished!
The actual real colours of the scene were really quite dull as you can imagine, mostly greys... so I exaggerated
the colours where ever I could find them. Sometimes the glass would reflect the colour of the
sky which was a warm orange/amber colour at the time."

'Demolition 1' Upside down!

"It's one of those paintings you can turn horizontally or upside down...
and I just can't make up my mind what way to display it.
Perhaps if I hang it lopsided on the wall it will further echo the falling debris crumbling into a mass of rubble!

Why should we hang paintings in perfect parallel to horizontality?

Who made up those rules?

The parallax is ours to explore!"

Entitled:'Construction 2'. Paint medium = Watercolours.

"The rapid construction and the demolition of architecture in these modern times has not escaped my attention.

Before delivering this painting my spirit was nurtured by the natural environment of organic landscapes.

I had to discover a brand new palate of city colours and surrender my use of soft round brushes for more definitive flat edged tools in order to capture the esthetics of industrial man made structures."

Untitled: Medium = Crayon/oil pastels.

" I sketched this while sitting on a wall facing the final construction days of the Genealogy Centre & Army
Barracks in N.Ireland.

The weather was nippy & quite breezy and some friendly soldiers
came down to have a nosey at the sketch and offer me a cup of tea."

Entitled:'Construction 1'. Medium = Watercolour & Pen.

"Incase your wondering what it is... it's the elevator/structure of a high rise shopping centre while in construction.

I sketched & painted it while sitting up on some scaffolding at a massive construction site... my hands were like ice as it was painfully freezing cold.

I based my Final Major panel upon it and it also contributed towards the creation of my 3D piece.

It's not exactly something I would hang above my fireplace... no trees and green fields here...but it was interesting to draw."

SET 8

. .
Entitled: 'Mirror'. Medium = Watercolours/Gouache/Pencil/Ink/Glass.

("The Mirror": the painting that gate crashed The Royal Concert Hall 2004, later welcomed in by the artists of Artists In Exile for the Media Gallery exhibition)

'Mirror' Detail

'Mirror'. Inverted.

"Thank you for visiting my exhibition... visit again as I will be adding new and continuing works!"

Mairead McColgan

Mairead Mc ColganIrelandAll literature and paintings by Mairead © 2008. All rights reserved.visIrishMusicsingervocalistartsongwriteractoractressperformerMairead Ni ColgainMairead Pop Star - Mairead Pop - Mairead Music - www.mairead.com - Buy Mairead Music - Mairead online - Mairead products - Mairead Home - Who is Mairead ? - Mairead Irish - Irish Mairead - Mairead singer - Mairead songwriter - Top selling albums - Where does Mairead live ? - Mairead - Mairead - Mairead - Mairead - Mairead official website - Mairead official - Mairead winner - Irish artists - Irish Pop star - Irish pop stars - Beautiful Mairead - Sexy Mairead - Voted number one Sexy Pop star - Voted number one Sexiest Pop star - Mairead world tour - mairead tour - mairead - mairead t-shirts - mairead information - mairead pop - mairead female pop - mairead female pop star - mairead fermale music - mairead irish pop star - underground artists - cool artists - cool musicians - Phil Howie - Mairead discovered - Mairead discovered by in Co Donegal Ireland - Mairead discovered by in Donegal Ireland - Irish artists - Mairead best selling Irish artist - Mairead voted best selling Irish artist - chart topping artists - Top of the pops - Irish pop - British Pop - UK Pop - US Pop - Mairead radio - Mairead TV - Mairead on MTV - Irish Underground - www.mairead.com - www.mairead.net -

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