Mary Duffy

I have been painting for ten years now. I see myself at a point of transition. While still deeply interested in landscape, circumstances have led me to try to work more from my memory of places, rather than directly on site. This is so not what I am used to. I am used to the wind in my face and the rain on my palette. Early in 2014, I injured my neck. As someone already without arms, it affected my ability to do most things, and I became very incapacitated as a result. This limitation stopped me painting for some time and changed the way I approach a canvas. Now when I want to paint, I have to now plan it carefully, think long and hard, and then very fast, and very swiftly apply the paint. As a result, my paintings are different. And for me, better . . . and its not just because I love big brushes. Early in the morning has always been the best time for me. It offers the promise of magic to be achieved before breakfast. I often get up early , like I have this morning, driven by the promise (especially in winter) of the pre-dawn hour. But these days, I take this to extremes and I have gotten into a bad habit of getting up at 3am with a satisfied grin on my face and the promise never to do this again. However, it works. And that is what is so wrong with me. I like what works. So when all else fails, it is the middle of the night that I turn to to complete my projects. I have too many unfortunately . . . my toes are in too many puddles . . . I got totally immersed in writing a socio-economic profile - don't even ask what that was. But suffice to say, it was very interesting and totally absorbing, but after sixty pages of pictures and numbers I just had to stop, because even I know when, too much is, too much. Another middle of the night project was to write a few lines about Dubin of article about Dublin and artists on for a new UK based magazine for emerging artists . . When all three copies that came to Ireland hit the shelves they were gone by lunchtime. The magazine did a feature asking a number of artists to contribute their best tips for artists visiting Dublin for a few days. My top tip was to visit art shops in the city. Yes, I know. Probably as boring as hell to you who pass them every day but to me - sitting here with my view of the sunrise and the cattle across the Goose Field, mooching in an art shop is something to be savoured. This is not just because they are endangered species - real shops one can mooch in - but also places of real inspiration.