My mother is the artist Lucy Doyle, so growing up in Avoca in Co Wicklow I was surrounded with art, exhibitions and the smell of oil paint.
Mum would always use my sister and I as models in her paintings so we were really a part of the process from day one! From this continuous exposure to art I definitely learnt to be comfortable around colours, expressing myself creatively and seeing the world through an artistic viewpoint. As well as this I was always fascinated with nature, in particular plants and the landscape. I found a deep connection to the natural world at a young age which continues to guide and inspire me today.
All my life I particularly loved and excelled at drawing and my mum encouraged me to attend NCAD where I ended up studying fashion design. I loved my time there, and ended up setting up a popular blog, and although I was working with fabrics and form, I continued to paint and draw alongside it as an essential part of my expression. After my degree at NCAD I took a diploma in European Painting at TCD, which my mother also had done years previously.
After this I surprised everyone by marrying a farmer and moving to a small coastal town in Northern Ireland and quite quickly having two gorgeous children. Amidst setting up an exciting environmental farm business with my husband, my eldest son was born with intense special needs and it was during these early years that painting became an even more vital part of my life. I used my work at that time as a practice to work through a myriad of emotions.
As a mother I have learned to work as and when I can, often I’ll be sketching away while I make the kids their supper or out drawing the pigs while the others farm! As any mother will know, it’s hard work juggling everything but I think I manage my time well and so I can spend a good wedge of it working as an artist amongst the wonderful mayhem of farm and parenting life. Although painting certainly doesn’t get me out of the daily farm jobs such as picking vegetables and herding sheep.
Painting is pure medicine for me, escapism, a dive into another world. A place of peace, where the clock slows down and it’s just me with my subject matter. I get to play as an alchemist, working with the energy of a freshly cut bunch of flowers, or a wild landscape and translate what I see and feel into something decorative that will hopefully bring those same elements of escapism and joy to the viewer.
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