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Noël O'Callaghan

This work came about during the lock-down. As all life-drawing sessions were suspended, I began sorting through my recent drawings, rejecting some and enlarging on others – I let the poses suggest something. In this 3-minute pose the model is sitting on a stool with her left leg and arm upraised. I find stool poses uninspiring and felt that the energy of the gesture spoke of something more dramatic. First the horse appeared to me…maybe Lady Godiva? Then the wing…Pegasus, perhaps? As the title came to me, I realised the work could also be a metaphor for the precarious life of the artist. In my interpretation, the rider/sprite, naked and vulnerable, with the fragility of only one wing, is borne along astride the Green Mare of the imagination.

On a wing and a Green Mare shortlisted for the Janet Mularney Prize at the Highlanes Open Submission Exhibition 2020

July 8, 2020 by Noël O'Callaghan
This work came about during the lock-down. As all life-drawing sessions were suspended, I began sorting through my recent drawings, rejecting some and enlarging on others – I let the poses suggest something. In this 3-minute pose the model is sitting on a stool with her left leg and arm upraised. I find stool poses uninspiring and felt that the energy of the gesture spoke of something more dramatic. First the horse appeared to me…maybe Lady Godiva? Then the wing…Pegasus, perhaps? As the title came to me, I realised the work could also be a metaphor for the precarious life of the artist. In my interpretation, the rider/sprite, naked and vulnerable, with the fragility of only one wing, is borne along astride the Green Mare of the imagination.
On a wing and a Green Mare by Noël O´Callaghan, watercolour and graphite on primed watercolour paper ,30 x 21 cm, April 2020 Shortlisted for the Janet Mularney Prize at the Highlanes Open Submission Exhibition 2020
Categories Blog, Exhibitions, News
One-Day Watercolour Workshops by Noël O´Callaghan, 18th and 25th August
Low Tide at Rocky Bay

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