DAS Member Interview - Sinéad Lawless
Sinéad and Richard Curtis - Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2023
Sinéad, how did you become interested in painting?
I really only started painting in the last ten years but I’ve been obsessed with drawing from a young age and that love was nurtured by my grandfather. He attended Crawford Art College in Cork but subsequently worked as a mechanic. He always had a bit of cardboard in his pocket and a tiny pencil that he had whittled down, so he could sketch wherever he was.
As a very young kid I loved to watch Don Conroy and Neil Buchanan on tv.
My art teacher in secondary school, Miriam Barry, was very encouraging and gave me a lot of confidence.
Pencil was my main thing for most of my life and a dabble in watercolour. Then I found Schoolhouse for Art in 2015 and started to drink in all the art courses there. My very first oil painting class was with Brenda Malley.
Do you have any art training?
I’m self-taught when it comes to drawing and painting but I’ve had the luxury of attending many workshops and masterclasses, mainly at Schoolhouse for Art. I now work there as a tutor myself!
I studied animation at DLIADT and took two courses in painting at the RHA in 2017.
What other artists do you enjoy?
I am fascinated by the work of the impressionists and divisionism and the exploration of colour and light.
I absolutely love any fabric art especially art created with embroidery.
I admire the work of Margaret Clarke, Gabhann Dunne and Cian McLoughlin and a whole host of other amazing artists. Instagram is like a gallery in my pocket.
Does creativity run in the family?
Overall my family are quite creative. I come from a line of highly expressive people.
Can you describe your artistic process?
I use the term ‘bottom-up’. I tend to start with a detail and work outward, if I have the luxury of that. If I am doing work that is for myself. I love to capture nuance and slight colour variance. I sketch very regularly which helps me to declutter my brain. It is usually a take a line for a walk, contour type thing.
I am very interested in colour theory and enjoy making colour charts and experimenting with that too. I see rainbows everywhere.
Tell us about your medium and why you chose it?
Oil is my preferred medium at the moment. I love its flexibility and the long drying time means I can really mix the colours I want. I enjoy it’s texture and durability also.
Was it always painting or did you have another pursuit/job/career?
Painting only came about in the last 10 years and I started teaching at Schoolhouse for Art in 2021. I’ve had numerous other pursuits which feel like past lives now: animation, graphic design, web development, reflexology, illustrating school books. I’m also a mom!
What inspires you to paint?
Light and colour. It can be the way the light hit the bubbles in someones drink or a sunbeam travelling across the floor and I want to paint. A visit to the National Gallery also makes my fingers twitch and want to get stuck in. I bring a sketchbook everywhere so I can get it out of my system. At the moment I’ve been pretty obsessed with sketching trees.
What does a perfect day painting look like for you?
I’m an early bird so up early and a walk in nature before the world has woken up is heaven. I love that morning mist.
Ideally I will have set up my studio the night before so that I have all I need to get into a painting session.
A cup of earl grey and some music and no appointments, no interruptions.
Work until I can’t work anymore and then a lovely nap.
Now that would be perfect!
Any DAS memories?
So many. Mainly being the DAS President for the past 2 years and having a front-row seat to the work of this wonderful community of creators. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know people. I’m normally a bit reclusive.
Any daily rituals before painting?
I endeavour to set up for painting the day before so that has become a ritual. That means I have a ritual of tidying up too. It wasn’t always that way but it was such a headache to deal with dirty brushes etc. So I wrote the words ‘thank you for tidying up - signed future Sinéad’ above my sink and that seemed to do the trick!
Cup of tea, music, deep breath and dive into curiosity.
