One of Jackie’s paintings.
Jackie Daly from Charleville recently held her first solo exhibition at the Great ARTitude Gallery in Doneraile. She is a self-taught artist who has been painting for just a few years, but has shown a huge aptitude. She works as an administrator during the day, but much of her free time is spent in front of her easel. Indeed, she has loved drawing since she was a little girl, and says, “I remember being very small and drawing. I know that all kids paint and draw with abandon, and that’s the way it should be, but I remember being focused and with such intensity – I wanted to create, in as much as I could – something of worth!”
“Even in Senior Infants I had produced two trees with grass and sky, and Sr. Lelia (an artist) had been called into the class to comment on my painting. In First Year, when classes were divided, I was told I would be studying French and Science while others were studying Spanish and Art. I remember wandering round the school grounds and feeling my heart sinking into despair at the thought of not being allowed to study my most heartfelt desire,” she adds. “I didn’t give up, though, because six weeks before the Junior Cert exams, I was allowed to sit the art exam and got an ‘A’!
Jackie says that, “At 18 I asked my mother if I could go to art college, to which she replied ‘No’, and off to secretarial school I went. There my dream ended and life and duty took over. Every so often I would say, “when I retire, I will paint”. Hence, about 4 years ago, one Christmas – having received through the post €100 in a Christmas card from his Nana – my son handed me €50 and told me not to pay a bill with it, but to go and get paints for myself!”
“You see, at that time of year all I cared about was making sure that all bills were paid and that Santa delivered. That is where my wonderful journey began. In all humility, I can say that, because of my son focusing me back to myself and urged me to be brave enough to push a paintbrush into oil paint and to start creating on a blank canvas, my soul can now breathe in contentment because now I am finally living the life I was meant to live.
The following is an excerpt from her introduction to her first solo exhibition which is on display at the Great Artitude Gallery in Doneraile for the month of February; “Vincent Van Gogh stated that ‘God is the greatest Artist’. That is the truth! Every morning, we rise and, no matter how humdrum our day is, He creates for us a different palette to view. In all of it, though, for me it is the light that stands out and shines in all its brilliance and dispels the darkness giving everything its true form. Our eyes are forever drawn to it – whether it be in a landscape, portrait or abstract painting. I too now, as a result of painting, have an eye for God and I bow down to his incredible creation. I commute to and from work and see oh so very differently from when I did before – the dawn, the sunsets, the tree lines, the mountains, the casting shadows – and all because He said, “Let there be Light”.
To learn more about Jackie and her work, go to jackiedaly-oilpainter.com, or her Facebook Page ‘Jackie Daly – Oil Painter’.