Today, the first full moon of the year and the first day back to work in the studio proved much more like new year’s day than any other before.

I am very excited by the new paintings and have secured a lovely showcase for them in Galleri Wendelboe in Bergen in October 2012 .. the series, whose title is yet to be confirmed, is operating right now under the auspices of UP.

A sneak peak of some of the paintings that heretofore have been created are below. Comments are appreciated. Especially since this is quite a departure from my rain paintings and the paintings of the snow. Here I am looking from the view point of the main mode of transport this year (or at least the biggest) and that is from Airplane windows. i love the view up in the clouds. The first time I was ever in a plane i distinctly remember this man sleeping and I wanted to wake him and shout “You’re missing heaven!” but people who travel a lot can take the breathtaking vantage point of 15,000 ft for granted. The whole expanse of the sky is there and this miracle of transport is flying right through the source of all the rain on the ground. I love it. The colours excite me up there and like a child with a stick of sherbert I have been drawing and videoing landings and take-offs and all the bits in between for the last year and the exhibition will be a result of this.

Hope people are as fascinated with the journey as I was.

All the best,

Helen

I am very excited this evening as I head off for the first time ever to somewhere very hot, and visit the beautiful Paphos in Greece to witness my lovely cousin getting married and meet many long since seen family members from the English and German borders.

In the meanwhile, there are two exhibitions happening with one of my pieces in them .

The first opens on Friday 2nd September in Higher Bridges Gallery in Enniskillen and is aptly called ‘Painting on Household Objects’
I have painted a lamp, entitled Torrential Revolutions, another rain painting of a poor old Dublin cyclist trying to navigate through the lakes on the road on a fine soft day aye eh. The Higher Bridges Gallery is well worth a visit , it is in the Clinton Centre on the site of the Enniskillen bomb, a Phoenix from the ashes, it hosts beautiful exhibitions and has a lovely coffee shop which I never get time to pop in to when I am in Enniskillen. On a trivia note, I went to school on the hill above the gallery, and it is nice to finally be able to have a piece in a show there. Even if I am going to miss the opening with my travels to the hot place.
I would like to thank Diane Henshaw for giving me the opportunity in this one. Thanks Diane! Find out more HERE - I have attached a bad photo of this taken on my phone in a very messy studio but will give the idea.

The second exhibition which opens next week is in this great little arty hub in Dublin called the Centre For Creative Practives ran by Monika and Ian, it is always worth popping into, they have great artsy shows, improvised music and lots more – its on Pembroke Street, their website is HERE
This exhibition is for the SCOOP Foundation, a charity that helps rebuild amenities for children in Cambodia, ran by a very cool guy Andy Sweeney who I would only describe as a big hearted social entrepreneur maker and doer, although really words don’t cut it. See their website for a bit about the great work they have been doing over there.
I am one of many artists in this exhibition – and the great thing about this is that it is also an AUCTION! so there is fun (craic if your Irish) to be had in the buying of a piece from any number of great artists in this fine country/ city. The auction takes place next week, if I can I will upload the catalogue here in PDF for you to browse. My painting is below.

So that is all. I am proud to be contributing to two cool shows this month.

There is more to come, next week Polish Theatre Ireland are fundraising for their Chesslaugh Mewash Production in Absolut Fringe with a MAD MEN party. Details are on PTI’s site HERE

On the painting front I will be heading to Annaghmakkerig to the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in October, more on that soon, but the exciting part is that I will be making work for an exhibition in MALAYSIA in december. Two hot places in a short space of time! My skin will melt, but my palette will explode.

and on that note. its good night from me.
H

Click to view slideshow.

More info on the 12 Points! Festival can be found HERE

i feel a little like a drama queen for being so affected by it, but anyone who knows me knows i am a little bit of a drama queen, so it possibly runs with my character.

after getting back from a wonderful 2 weeks in the fjordic beauty of Norway’s city of Bergen, and the surrounding lands of Hordaland i was pleased, delighted and exhilarated to be back in the gorgeous city of Dublin, having missed my adopted home place so much.  I had a walk around the city and a meeting in the fringe festival offices in Sackville place off O’Connell street, a totter round Temple Bar, and then onto Dame Street and Grafton Street on my way home to the lovely end of town known as Leeson Street Upper. Chit chatting away as I often do on my phone, I strode through Grafton Street.

Then from behind me from nowhere came what felt like someone jumping on my back. You know when a friend acts the cod as we say and for a split second I thought it was someone I knew perhaps, and like lightening the guy, who I didn’t even have time to see pinned one side of me so I couldn’t move and ripped my phone from my hand and ear and sprinted like a highly tuned athlete down towards Molly Malone’s statue and round the corner out of sight to Dame Street. The reaction time for me was quite fast I think, but in heels and a bag laden with lap-top and a gizillion sketch books there was no way i was going to catch up with him, even if he was out of it on heroin. I ran down the street in his wake like a crazed looney just escaped from the confines of a nice padded cell shouting ‘stop that thief’ and ‘the bastard took my phone’ and various other profanities and noticed that a fellow pedestrian on the Grafton street route was chasing after the thief, as I ran oh so pathetically after them , I prayed that the heroic passerby had retrieved the phone.

when i reached the tobacco shop opposite trinity, one of the journalists covering the nutshell in Bergen greeted me and i was about to apologise for not being able to stop as a thief was running up the street with my phone (and consequently all of my info and more importantly video footage and artistic ideas that will now be backed up daily !).

in a miraculous twist of events, the man who had just shared a great experience of music and friendship in norway was standing there with my phone, he was the strange passerby who heroically chased down a junkie thief through the streets of dublin. i am so thankful and do believe that perhaps using the word miracle is strong, but i am great at the ‘ol hyperbole, but really and truly it is hard to believe that the one person who decided to confront the situation (and grafton street was packed as i shouted ‘stop the thief’ ) was someone i knew.

yesterday i was a little shaken by it, but more relieved at getting my phone back and being unharmed and intrigued by the notion of how small the world is. but today, i feel violated and vulnerable and exhausted from a night of sleeplessness and bad dreams when the lids eventually shut. shock or whatever this feeling is , is a strange thing.

i know this is a personal rant, and my apologies for putting people through the bad grammar and the clear ignorance to devices such as capital letters and commas etc. but this is a rant, a venting of things, and also a public announcement to beware of talking on the phone on the street in dublin right now. and hug as many people as you can

here’s a picture to leave you with. i finished this painting this week in Norway.

Nedbør - oil on canvas 100 x 100

]]> http://helenmcnulty.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/shaken-and-stirred/feed/ 0 helenmcnulty nedbor http://helenmcnulty.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/the-norway-connection-12-points-and-my-upcoming-exhibition-in-bergen/ http://helenmcnulty.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/the-norway-connection-12-points-and-my-upcoming-exhibition-in-bergen/#comments Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:48:32 +0000 helenmcnulty http://helenmcnulty.wordpress.com/?p=278 Continue reading →]]> I have been away in working mode for a while and in the fine city of Paris and in the rainy climes of Bergen over the last while so haven’t been checking into my blog which has sat here like a lonely neglected child waiting for some nurturing images or words or even a little link.

But here I am back again, to announce that the jazz festival 12 Points! is back in Dublin next month and I am glad to be involved once more. The bands represent a portion of the best of jazz and new music in the continent and beyond with groups from Iceland, Slovenia, Germany, Norway, Portugal,  UK , France, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden and Ireland in the line-up I am looking forward to the backstage and meal times to hear all those wonderful languages and accents and to learn the sensibilities of different talented music makers from different parts of Europe. That is one of the greatest joys of 12 Points! for me, the dolly mixture of cultures and sounds and fashions and personalities all from a peerage that is the breed of the new europe, the one that banks can’t touch and that will never experience a crash as long as art and music exist.

On another note, a lovely little gallery in Bergen in Norway likes my paintings and so will be hosting an exhibition there in May from the 19th May until the end of June. I will post more details about it soon. Needless to say I am over the moon.

Here to leave you with some music from PELbO a group from Oslo who are playing at 12 Points! and a video by Mari Kvien Brunvoll, who lives in Bergen and who performed in 12 Points! last year can be found on the IMC facebook site HERE

more info on 12 Points! is on Facebook here : http://facebook.com/12points … go on… like it!

Once again, the unique little company with the big ideas be performing in English and in Polish offering both Polish and Irish audiences a a chance to engage with the great text of Paczocha.

Anna Wolf, my lovely friend and esteemed colleague has directed the play and with the great cast translated it. Anna has been on RTÉ Arts Tonight talking about Polish Theatre, has been featured in The Dubliner for her work both in the theatre and in the world of media…. so we are very proud. I am delighted as I met Anna in Focus Theatre early in 2008  and we got talking about our shared passion for theatre. A little trip to the Market Bar on Fade Street, and several drinks later, Polish Theatre Ireland was born, in proper fashion – on the back of a napkin. Now here we are with our little theatre company with big ideas and we couldn’t be more proud.

If you would like to see the performance in either Polski or English, then please click on the flier below and follow the link to focus theatre website.

Here is a link to the Irish Theatre Magazine review also, to help make up the mind! ITM REVIEW

Many thanks

Helen xxx

Scent of Chocolate - Nov/ Dec 2010 by Polish Theatre Ireland