I’m passionate about the deep meaning expressed in a single glance, how the effects of atmosphere color our emotions, and the attempt to illuminate these moments through an accessible artistic language.
All my life I have been fortunate to live with musicians. Music and what I listen to while I paint has a significant power over my artistic process, in what inspires me, in the rhythmic motion of the strokes, in the emotions evoked and incorporated into a piece, and is even reflected in the popular song titles of the finished works.
I’m also influenced by the paradox of tragic joy that is my Irish heritage. Soon after my first trip to Ireland, a garage sale vintage mirror frame motivated my first landscape. I chose a composition and subject from my travel photos that would suit the large, unusually shaped frame. There’s an affinity between my artistic style, the timeless Irish subject matter and these shabby chic frames.
I enjoy the feeling of being in touch with the work, and use my fingers to push the pure pigments of pastels or graphite over the entire paper surface in a painterly fashion. I choose to depict contemporary places and people, but my goal is to use skill and imagination to produce works that portray the more enduring qualities of the world and of the human condition.
Website: www.alicemcmahon.com
