Artists who inspire me - Lucy Doyle

August 28, 2019 1 Comment

Irish Artist Lucy Doyle invites us into her luminous, colour-drenched world

"It starts with the paint, always the paint. The shapes and images are secondary to the texture of the paint"

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with incredible Irish artist Lucy Doyle. I brought Ella to Lucy's studio in Avoca and we spent a gorgeous afternoon talking about art, the merits or otherwise of attending Art School and what drives Lucy to paint.

I want to share a few highlights from our conversation as I want to help spread the word about her work even further (Marian Keyes and Tommy Tiernan are already collectors) and because I really admire (and regard as brave) anyone who does art as their full-time gig.

"Art School can't teach someone how to be an artist".

Her painting style emerged slowly - nurtured over 30 years of continuous, deliberate output. Her paintings feature women, often representations of her daughters, an abundance of flowers, animals, playful perspective and thick, generously applied oil paint. Her palette is delicious, vibrant and unapologetic. There are no washed-out instgram filters here.

"I always knew what I wanted to do and I insisted on doing it".

We always hear that "it's tough out there for artists" - especially fine artists. Lucy is a case study in how to stay true to yourself and let the world flow towards and around what you create instead of what too many of us do - mold ourselves to what our parents and what we think others want and expect.

I left with two paintings that day. Now I am honoured to have them in my home where we can continue to appreciate them a little bit more each day.