Cecilia Danell

Yesterday I completed the 10th and last painting for the 10×10 show. I’m really happy to have them all done, especially since I was quite pressed for time. I don’t think I’ve ever been as productive in such a short space of time before!

The weather is miserable as you would expect in November, but today we even had thunder and lightning! At least I don’t need to feel bad for spending most of my time indoors. I will now be shifting focus to my next project which will be curated by Maeve Mulrennan of Galway Arts Centre, (more info to follow). I have been aware of this project since the summer and had it in mind, while I was in Berlin etc. but haven’t started working on it yet.

They’re the new paintings behind me, but that’s all you’ll see until the opening on the 4th December.

This evening I was at a debate in the Nun’s Island Theatre run by the GMIT in conjunction with Tulca season of visual arts about art education and how it equips artists for life after college etc. It was interesting to listen to. Helen Carey, Deirdre O’Mahony, Michaele Cutaya and Aideen Barry were on the panel amongst others and the turn out was good.

On Thursday I’m heading to Dublin for a couple of days to attend the launch of the debut album of Sending letters to the sea and I will check out a couple of exhibitions as well while I’m there.

I am almost finished with painting no. 8 for the “10×10″ show now. I have felt so inspired lately it’s a joy being in the studio. I even feel a bit restless when I don’t paint. I even dream about gesso boards, but it’s not a bad thing.

I was at the Tulca – Season of visual arts opening in Galway on Friday and the video art on display in the Fairgreen building was excellent. I have yet to visit the other venues, was planning on doing the rounds yesterday but got struck down with a head cold for the last couple of days so it didn’t materialise. Am feeling better now though.

Here’s one of the completed paintings. I am not going to show you all of them until the exhibition, so as to make it a bit of a surprise. The series is titled: “Ever After”.

You can read about all the other artists involved in the exhibition on the White Room Gallery website.

I don’t think anyone could have missed that it was 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell yesterday. I’ve watched a couple of programmes about the wall, life in the East etc. and I find it very interesting since I’ve been to the places they mention about and seen all the different parts of the city. It makes me even more inspired to work with all this focus on Berlin.

Oh, by the way, if you’re on Facebook and like my work you can check out my ‘fan’ page there. Just search on my name and you’ll find it.

That’s all for now folks!

The days are getting darker and winter will soon be upon us. I bought a little oil radiator for the studio a couple of days ago, so now I can keep myself warm on all those cold and rainy days ahead. I have completed five of the ten paintings so far, so things are going according to plan.

I bought a pumpkin in Anne-Marie’s dad’s shop today and tomorrow I’m planning on making pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie! I am also considering a little trip to London around late November. Haven’t been there since February 2008, way too long ago!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Just over a week has passed. For me it was quite a busy one, and I spent most of it in the studio. Between Sunday the 18th and Saturday the 24th I managed to complete 4 paintings. Pretty good going I have to say, given that they were very time consuming and detailed. I went through large parts of my music library on my computer, with great bands such as The Velvet Underground, Kate Bush, Mazzy Star and Portishead to keep me company.

I will wait and show you the finished paintings later on.

So, that’s four done and six to go. I am enjoying it though, despite getting slightly carried away once I get started which has made me leave the studio after midnight a few of the days. Anyways, that’s what I’m at anyway!

I’ve arranged my postcards, collected photos, fliers, map etc. from the Berlin trip on the studio wall. Things that I like and that will act as inspiration. The photos I took myself so far only exist in digital form.

The process of preparing the gesso boards for painting. It sure takes time, as my fellow artists would testify. For the uninitiated, gesso is a traditional ground created for oil painting. It is made by mixing French chalk and white pigment with a rabbit skin glue and hot water solution. Since I’ve never quite liked the idea of boiling my favourite animal to make glue I am currently using a synthetic rabbit skin glue imitation. The mixture needs to reach a certain consistency and is then brushed onto board in thin layers, and sanded inbetween. College students may challenge each other to who makes the smoothest surface. At least we did at some stage.

An old Sandmännchen toy, a picture of porcelain owls, a DDR “Wunder Tute” containing a 3D jigsaw in the shape of a bear, which took me and another person who managed to built one each, about 15 minutes to figure out. Which calls to question how many 5 year olds in the former DDR ever managed to build the Berlin bear without help from their parents! It’s all there on the wall.

While I was in Berlin I got asked by the White Room Gallery in Galway to exhibit in a group show in December called “10×10″. The idea is that 10 artists will create 10 pictures each, which are 10×10 inches in size and will cost €100 a piece. I was delighted with the proposal since it meant that I would be able to make use of my Berlin research straight away. Other artists in the show include my friends Jennifer Cunningham, Aideen Barry and Shane O’Connor and Felicity Clear, who’s work I really like, so I am very excited about the line up.

I am really looking forward to the show and I think it will be a great one. However, the time leading up to the middle of November, when we need to have the pictures ready, will be a busy one for me since I missed out on a few weeks of working when I was in Berlin and then went directly on to Sweden to visit family and friends for two weeks before returning to Ireland. It’s only this week that I’ve been able to get back to working in the studio again, after having my mum over visiting us for all of last week (which was great by the way).

I have decided to make 10 oil paintings on gesso board, and thus the preparation takes a few days. So far I’ve got the boards cut and sanded, equipped with hangers at the back, and now I’m in the middle of the slow process of adding the layers of gesso. I do not doubt that I will get the work done on time though, since there are no two ways about it. I have a deadline to meet if it’s going to mean working around the clock.
But, I am not fretting, because I am LOVING being back in the studio, am full of ideas, and there is nothing like doing what you love!

Do I need to tell you what I think about Berlin or could you figure that one out for yourselves? Berlin is Amazing. The polaroids could tell you that.

I got a young artists’ training award from Liljesonska Stiftelsen in Sweden in May and I used the money to go to Berlin for almost three weeks in September. I wasn’t sure if it would live up to the hype, I mean, there’s hardly any place as hyped up among artists as Berlin, except for, say, New York (if even). I am happy to report that Berlin turned out to be everything I wanted and more.

I rented a room in a lovely neighbourhood just off Boxhagener Strasse in Friedrichshain. The weather was gorgeous for most of the time. The colours were amazing; the street art, the second hand shops, the flea markets, the galleries, the parks, the neighbourhood cafés… I could go on forever.

I borrowed a bike belonging to the guy I was renting the room from. I cycled along Karl Marx allée with the wind in my hair. I had waffles and ice cream at Glucklich am Park near Rosenthaler Platz. I bought a stack of vinyl records. I visited the lovely Nina Hynes. I went to numerous art galleries and museums. I criss crossed the city in all directions on the U-bahn, S-bahn and metro trams. I had my boyfriend visiting for six days and went with him to the hisitorical sites and museums. I collected old DDR toys and postcards. I went to numerous lovely cafés. I visited Kunstlerhaus Bethanien and Kunsthaus Tascheles. I looked at the view from the Fernsehturm.

I also had time to visit a number of modernist suburbs and developments on both sides of the city. One which looked like the perfect utopian fantasy, complete with a lake, fountain and willow trees. I took loads and loads of pictures that I’ll use for my new paint project.

I felt at home there, it was absolutely amazing. I am eternally gratefull that the award gave me the chance to spend a bit longer in the city, which gave me time to explore the different parts. I am absolutely brimming with inspiration. No place will ever feel quite as cool again after Berlin…

So, this is my new blogging solution. The old blog I had on my site was never really a blog in the true sense of the word since it didn’t allow for comments etc. But now I’ve thrown myself into the hands of the Wordpress platform and am currently exploring what it can do for me.

If you want to read the old blog, which dates back to May 2006, when I had just finished building the first version of this site, it can be found :Here:

The new blog is supposed to get updated a bit more regularly than its predecessor since the task of updating has now been made a lot easier, and do feel free to comment as much as you’d like, I’d be ever so happy!

Enjoy!