Red Water

by Mairead deBlaca

'Water, your exhibition is on water? But why water?' He asked as we stood in The Mill Theatre in Dundurm. 

We were at my current exhibition’s opening, and it struck me how appropriate the title seemed as the 19th of January gave us about 5 inches of rain.  Nice when Mother Nature complements my work. 

He persists, 'So, why did you choose water as a theme?’

Sometimes, he is very good at asking me why. 

I have always had something of a love-hate relationship with water. I love the colours, movement and sounds it creates, but I have a fear of its enormous power.  I am not a strong swimmer and have vivid memories of being pulled beneath the waves on various family holidays. And never once were there mermaids or dolphins there to save me!  As a result, I hate to put my face beneath the water. So I suppose I will never get to swim the channel.  Another thing to cross off the endless list of life - swim the channel, learn Swahili, marry George Clooney, world domination.....

Red Water reminds me of many trips to warmer waters, sitting on boats staring into the sea and watching the colours float by. The sound and colour of water can be such an evocative thing, can’t it? I only need to hear gentle waves and I find myself transported back in time to literally floating my way around the Virgin Islands. I can almost feel the sun on my face just thinking about it.

As the evening ended, he quipped, 'I know why you picked water, it’s a mixer for my whiskey and makes ice for your gins!'

Ah yes. Perhaps he had a point. He knows me so well . . .

Red Water, acrylic on board and other water themes can be seen at my current exhibition, Water in Abstraction, The Mill Theatre in Dundrum, Dublin.

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Comments

[Art Lover]

I think this series is fascinating and much different from your work that I've seen in the Washington DC gallery.

[Paul T]

I liked the Mill Theatre as a veneue, lots of good light and a chance to get a perspective on your works. One of the digressions with looking at your paintings is engaging in an internal debate as to whether the name you've chosen for the piece resonates, or does it inspire thought on a completely different theme. Then it's back to seriously looking and looking...
Congratulations on another inspiring set of work. ( yes, it may have bucketed out of the heavens on the night, but then, some of your works are anything but tranquil!)

[Eugene]

The sheer depth of feeling is clearly visible from this emotional outpouring. The strength and angry passion have a tangible quality not often seen in two dimensional representations. This image has a searing heat uncommonly found in others in this medium. The searing temper bursting through the stilted yet supporting texture is both organic and cosmic in it’s visual appeal. Mixing a volume of isolated parts of spectrum to counterpoint the obvious solar nature of life, as might be such before birth, brings a clarity to this work which speaks in an order of magnitude spurious to oils.

[Emma Barone]

Red Water
Hi Mairead let me tell you what red water means to me.
This painting reminds me of a true story about my grandfather Charles Barone when he worked as a horse trainer with the Great American Circus.
While in Australia and after a long time travelling they eventually arrived in Brisbane. His eight white Lipizzan horses needed to be washed for the performance that night and being that they were beside the ocean he decided to release them into the surf. The horses were splashing and jumping about in the waves, loving the freedom of the water.
Only minutes later the clear blue ocean turned to an awful red blood bath. People screaming on shore at the horror they seen before them.
Red water churning in a bloody frenzied killing spree.
He lost six of his highly trained horses that day to sharks, only 2 escaped the massacre in Brisbane.
My grandfather was born in Sicily grew up in America and settled in Ireland. This is just one of many amazing stories about his very exciting adventures that brought him all over the globe.
The moral of this story is ….. “don’t let white horses swim with hungry sharks”

[Sara]

Mairead, I love your choice of colors and the feeling of movement that you inspire. In Red Water, I had the impression you were painting the inverse of Pink Splash. I love it!

[oil painting]

she have full color,I liked the Mill Theatre as a veneue, lots of good light and a chance to get a perspective on your works. One of the digressions with looking at your paintings is engaging in an internal debate as to whether the name you've chosen for the piece resonates, or does it inspire thought on a completely different theme.

[oil painting]

Nice painting, female colors, see the strength of life.