tell thy hearts own true wish in flowers.....

not sure where I am going at the moment ...but getting flowers like these and having good friends and family sure is a help (a bit of sun would do the trick)

love this image by caroline gaedechens

fragility in general

fragile was re-worked and here it is afterwards , it is now in Vienna,Austria (thank you Gabi)

I dedicate this post to the full and absolute recovery of dear friend Laura Ferrara

re-focusing

hmmm...excuse the stray pin
I made this and Penny loved it :)
book production

hello there if you are reading and thank you for dropping by , do leave a comment today ,it makes me SO happy .

Well , I am fine keeping on making and do-ing and such like. I have 2 of my edition of 10 house drawing books left after the show

illusions of stability

edition of 10

They cost 20euro +p&p

I will make a second edition , smaller this time with a fabric cover and some of my writing in it too. (please let me know if you are interested , by email or comment )

I have some of the life drawing books too, tommorow I will post up the images.

That IS me in the green hat ! I still make special one-off creations , never forgetting the skills I learnt as a milliner all those years ago!

Thanks to Penny who fell in love with my frida kahlo-ish jacket and skirt which she bought for her birthday on saturday.

I really enjoyed making it.

I hope everyone is getting a little sun . I went completely mad working in my garden yesterday and today feel about 130 years old !

is it that time already ! half of June is GONE FOREVER

I have been away for a week in England as my dad was 75 and had a party.

We had a time away experience , visiting family and pottering around generally .

Even after our exciting day in London , the knitting ladies came out top again ,these wonderful women come to their stall,come wind come rain , ages between 78-85 spending their time very fruitfully making blankets , dolls , knitted clothes and a full range of doll size knitted boots ....they are beyond words (love them all)

I am between worlds at the moment in most aspects of my life ....I quite like it though :)

the market feels my love

I have to say , I really enjoyed my market stall last saturday , its always been there , a loyal friend that has supported me to be an artist, given me countless amazing inspirations and chance meetings and kept me going when all else faded.

It is totally up to me to make exactly what I feel like at the time and at the moment that is nice cardigans and hats and this necklace ...oh and a few chic french 1950's records for balance :)

It is an ongoing love affair of twenty years and I greatly appreciate it .

summer , fresh mint tea, musing in general and being grateful for friends

I went to see my show for the first time since the super busy opening.

It was good to actually see the work and I was accompanied by my best friends forever lovely Pat and my youngest daughter Méabh.

We took lots of photos and I made a bit of a film which I want to edit really nicely and put up on my blog just as soon as I can.

Afterwards we went for the most gorgeous fresh mint tea, hot chocolate and complimentary tasting cakes at the lovely Janice and Dermotts Pantry and Corkscrew who did such a fine job at my opening.

Leonora Carrington ( a thousand thank yous ) 1917-2011

image by Katy Horna

image is taken from this book surreal friends which has been on my wish list for ages ....about the painters Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo and the photographer Katy Horna

It doesnt surprise me one bit that it was via my dear friend painter Laura Ferraras blog that I was to learn of the death just a few days ago of one of my most inspiring artist heroes the surrealist Leonora Carrington.

I have just spent two and half hours (and I had planed an early night !) reading and watching rare footage of this most fascinating artist who lived to 94 , working up till the last.

I felt a connection to her that I cannot explain and often dreamt of writing and telling her this , like I often imagine having tea with Kiki Smith :).......

well what can I say but look her up if you are not familiar with her work , and her life which has inspired many short films and documentaries.

She was a brave artist (I hope to be that too)

obituary from the guardian newspaper

joanna moorhead film 2010

pamela robertson -pearce film of leonora carrington

you are as welcome as the flowers in May

home sweet home

a limited edition artists zine made to be given away free !!!

please click on the image and you will see everything ....I am SO excited about this little element of the installation.The zine is made from an A4 piece of paper which is folded in a certain way to make a cute 8 page book (love it )

see the zine above :)

We travel great distances with our ideas of home.

Metaphorically or physically crossing the sea we take our hopes and dreams and artefacts.

With instinct,intuition and collective experience we create

an idea of home.

the image above is one of the drawings in :-

Illusions of stability

Some house drawings

artists book available in limited edition

Jane O’Sullivan

2011

© jug from the museum of country life collection

All that connects us is our tears ….we are all connected somewhere in the ether, the collective soul of the world.
People will always make romantic interpretations of home, it is central to us all to want to feel at home.
our home is a reflection of our selves.
Home is where the heart is ….

Here are some images from my work in the museum of country life.
It is a temporary installation , and will be gone in a few weeks.
I really enjoyed it , the work made itself as my collection of home related artefacts were perfect for our brief.
The installation is hiding away a little and has to be found but I like that aspect, my work is not loud or easy to read and where it is, suits it perfectly.
I still have books to print from my recent solo show and send of to the lovely people that ordered them (thank you !!)and want to go over to make a film of my show next week ...only 2 weeks left if you still have time to visit it.

feeling the full moon is right inside me

my dear one Pat ...who gives me so much support mad about that girl :)
Richael also helped me a lot coming up to my solo mio show (love her) She is is making some beautiful work at the moment and is definately an emerging artist to watch. Go Shelly Go
wow ...I went to Dublin on sunday to see this show and do some light shopping with two of my girls ,we had a great day !
needlepoint from c.1960

do you remember me ?
2005

I am in a reflective mood for sure and today is full on reflection for me as I am quite connected to the moon ....here a few images that I want to share .
I am looking forward to installing a new piece of work within the irish museum of country life ....
Do you remember last year , my outside piece , well this time I will be inside .
Timing is a little tight with all the preperations that my solo show demanded , but it is such a lovely project that I could not let it pass me by.
My piece will be situated in two museum display cases and is called

you are as welcome as the flowers in may (all that connects us is our tears)

I will post images of it tommorow , Mayo Arts Squad (an artist led umbrella group) are addressing the poignancy of our ties to home,in a series of installations by individual artists and community groups.

would not violets grow from her heart.....YES it has opened and YES it was a dream come true xxx

PART ONE





would not violets grow from her heart

solo show of new work
jane o'sullivan
custom house studios gallery
westport
co mayo
may 5th -june 6th

details

would not violets grow from her heart.....YES it has opened and YES it was a dream come true xxx

PART TWO





I hope you enjoy these images , I am going to make a virtual tour video of the show in the next few days so you can see all the actual work !
Funny , it was kinda hard to do that on thursday at my dream opening !!!
ummm.....ummmmm am so happy am so grateful to all you wonderful people that came , many of whom made a lot of effort to get there in person (involving planes etc )....my parents and sister were definately guests of honour.
For all the people who couldnt thats cool , we couldnt have fitted you in anyways !!
I am only joking ,your presence was and is felt in many other ways which will sustain me for a very long long time.
love and respect
jane x

there is no going back tommorow is May and with it comes many new things to do.......

a bit of my market stall on saturday
can you believe this cheeky little amethyst miner leprauchaun ?
I spotted him last week on Achill Island

the precautionary primroses ready for distribution on the thresholds

I am feeling very excited now , it is only 5 days till my opening , I am totally uncool to be so excited , I guess I just cannot do nonchalence.
Today was a beautiful day at the market and I enjoyed it with lots of well wishers giving me well wishes for thursday :)
We are on May -Eve and in Ireland a lot of folklore gathered around the auspicious day that is The first of May.
For indepth research The Year in Ireland Irish Calender Traditions by Kevin Danaher is brilliant , with whole chapters just on May Day or Bealtaine which is the celtic festival to welcome in the summer.
May -eve \Day was seen to be a day of much fairy mischief making,an inbetween mutable time when anything could happen,such was the forces of nature around.
One of my favourite precautions taken was the liberal scattering of primroses outside on the ground of the threshold of the house (front and back)
No fairy would be able to cross over this threshold ...I will be doing this myself tommorow definately.

one or two of these dolls head planters will be one of my post exhibiton treats to myself.

blackthorn blossoms are thankfully distracting me

nb. the scarf is a vintage gucci one OMG how bonkers is it ?
wonderful !
...and I spied that lovely russian doll skirt on a woman waiting to buy olives from the stall opposite mine last saturday :)

...its all getting a little hectic but I guess it just has too ...I got the lovely glassine bags today (thanks laura) to put the books in for my opening :)
I was bought a guillotine for my opening present from dear Pat ! ....for cutting my book pages precisely.
all the framing paraphenalia arrived too ,drawings to be put in the wonderful frames (thank you aidan and mick) , glass cleaned , books to be printed ....and I am making sure to get out on my bike early in the morning (essential)

......it has been so lovely here the last few days, see the lovely old hooks in the derelict cottage lots of items have hung there over the years huh .
I am loving the blossom , it seems to appear overnight and just blinds you with its all encompassing white beauty !
It will be gone soon , I spied the huge lilac bush is about to bloom soon , its like an orchestra , all the flowering is at precise times in relays as and when we need it.


*** I want send my heartfelt greetings and thanks to all my friends for your love support and practical help coming up to this show (you know who you are xx)

***** late news
O.M.G Ritva thrilled that you are thrilled :)

invitation to the dark side :)

I would love to see anyone that can get there .....allowances will be made for those in far flung places !