Size: 36.6 cm x 25.4 cm (14 x 10 inches)
Media Type: Acrylic on canvas
Description: A seeming stillness was painted at my local beach on a freezing winter’s evening as the sun was going down. I found myself becoming more grounded as I started to look with renewed attention and appreciation at my locality. I wanted to capture the spectacular beauty of the amazing colour of the sky and the marshland grasses by the beach. I had been reading David Whyte’s poem:
We love the movement in a seeming stillness,
the breath in the body of the loved one sleeping,
the highest leaves in the silent wood,
a great migration in the sky above:
the waters of the earth, the blood in the body,
the first, soft, stir in the silence beneath a strident
voice, the internal hands of our mind,
always searching for touch, thoughts seeking other
thoughts, seeking other minds, the great arrival
of form through all our hidden themes.
– DAVID WHYTE: ESSENTIALS
Healing, painting, and inquiry into my thoughts have become my unspoken vow to my inner, constantly developing self and my antidote to grief. I have a strength which is my eternal optimism. This allows me to create work that acknowledges the darkness, it is authentic. It helps me to shine, to find light, positivity, and beauty in the everyday.
‘When I let my l own light shine, I indirectly give others permission to do the same.’– Marianne Williamson.
My paintings always have to do with a feeling, a mood, and atmosphere with some sort of sensibility that would resonate from a place and these characteristics permeate my work. I layer acrylic paint onto the canvas in the studio. I enjoy the push and pull of the painting to be in control enough not to be in control at all, to have a dialogue with the work, and to let myself go with it. I want the texture to suggest an intimate engagement with the surface. With subsequent layers, I see what I want to retain, omit, and emphasize. I use titles to engage with the audience, which leads the viewer to discover more. My paintings have to do with the impermanence of life, a sensibility that resonates from a place, and the nostalgia that surfaces when I return or remember. The results are compositions based on the landscape which evoke in the viewer an emotional experience of light, colour, and nostalgia for a simpler time. I create work that both acknowledges loss and is uplifting and shines.
Sinéad Ní Chionaola is a contemporary Irish and international artist since 1991. Her paintings are inspired by her observation of the landscape and energy of nature. Her work forms part of the OPW collection Ireland, and in private collections in Ireland, Europe, Switzerland, and America. Visit my Shop here.