Pitches made for painting

I have had one of the scariest experiences of my life. I have been reading through all the entries that you have sent to me pitching for one of my paintings. I have been in awe of the long ones, and short ones, laughed at the funny ones, adored the multiple rhyming sequential poems and gawped at one perfectly weird pitch in perfect prose... and of course, I have loved them all.

However, I had to choose, and for a while I was terrified. How was I going to choose? How could I be fair? How could I have promised only one prize? I resisted the temptation to have someone else choose... because that really wouldn't be fair. I promised to chose not great writing, not a great story, but based on my heartfelt response. And, I have had heartfelt responses to some of the entries. I have tried to explain and I can't explain. Two or three entries really touched me. They weren't particularly clever, or well-written....(sorry, folks, but I was innundated with beautifully written prose, poetry and lovey short stories, and for me, the top three entries were not in any of these categories).
Read a selection of them below

Dark Lilies... The Winning Pitch

On June 21st our daylight peaks and for awhile it declines quite imperceptibly. People are holidaying preoccupied with seeking out the sun. The months pass quickly, soon preparation for the return to work or study concentrates the mind. The bell rings, the term starts; the catch up with old acquaintances and new work slides to the forefront. Before we realise it the year has lurched forward and it’s Hallow Een. The clock changes, we gain an hour but loose our light. For the first time since the summer solstice we focus on the declining days, the long evenings. We bemoan the dark. ...more

 

From Gemma.. The whole scene radiates light and heat and I long to sit again under the shade of a big plane tree.

I love the painting 'La fin de l'apres-midi'. When our three children were small we went to France every year we could. ...more

 

From Mary O'S

Our eyes met across a classroom. She starting out, me too. The cocky sit of her with paintbrush in toe bringing the feminist theory of “gaze” together in one. I was blessed with the opportunity to study in the U.C.D. Women’s’ Studies Outreach in Bray. The module on Irish Women Artists excited me and brought me back to place I left many years ago. I abandoned the world of creativity behind too long ago, not by choice, but by allowing myself to believe what I was told. “Art wont provide bread and butter” my father drove. And so I reluctantly joined the security of a job in the Bank.
That was in the seventies and the cusp on the Women’s” Movement, which was telling me, “things don’t have to remain like this”. The notion of choice appealed to me. ...more

 

From Magda

Ooohh....I try my best to express myself here in writing...but I can’t get over my feelings and thoughts about the painting which strikes me the most- in a warmest and most positive way.

‘Wild blue ’. I have seen the painting picture on your website many times and always was impressed by ITS originality and some kind of power... ...more

 

From Anne in Australia...

I can not resist 'The Last Summer', which is totally eye catching with its entire colour. I smell the salt sea air, feel the breeze that snaps open the sails, my toes are wet. The boldness, decisiveness and courage of brush stroke is startling, especially the two naked boats that beg to be occupied, I want to grab one, hop on board and sail into the distant haze. ...more

 

From Frances (1st entry)

The painting I would most like to own is ‘Lillies in Spring’. When I looked at the painting again just now, having long loved it, I gasped! This painting takes my breath away and I have an almost irresistible urge to dive into it, to immerse in it, become one with it and die! ...more

 

From Vanda - After 25 years

Déjà vu

For twenty five years, Mary Duffy,
(my friend, may I call you that?)
I have remembered you,
hoping (knowing) we would meet again.
Suddenly, today,
I googled you.
(why did I not do that before?)
And here you are.
(you look the same, how can that be?)

Awesome.

As ever.

Yourself. ...more

 

from John ..For each of us there are the winter ghosts

The painting I've chosen to write about is Winter's Eve, Five Mile Point.

Winter always brings memories of a former girlfriend, Roberta, who died one Christmas day.
Looking at your painting Winter's Eve I was struck by the fact that the dark days of winter bring their own possibilities and so I wrote these lines : ...more

 

From Lisa C

I just wanted to say that I've had a look at your paintings and I think that you've really found your voice through them -they're just you speaking in every bog hole and mountain.... I love the colours that you use and, they are vibrant and energetic as you so rightly say. ...more

 

From Peter in Florida..

My grandfather was born in West Mayo in the late 1880s. You know what troubled times those were.

His family was burned out as tenants. His mother was killed and his father had to flee to America because of what he did in retaliation. He left behind 13 kids in Ireland. The youngest was my grandfather.

Years later, Gramps made it to America to join his father, and now we've been Irish-Americans for 3 generations. We reflect on that all the time..... ...more

 

From Noirin I am drawn backwards to the inky grasses and such greenness and

‘Triple Aqua’ draws me into a sliding strangeness. My eye lingers on the softness of pink on the left that slips into white water leading me towards the centre of the picture, but no, not yet… I am drawn backwards to the inky grasses and such greenness and ...more

 

Poached Eggs ‘Romneya Coulteri’ from Anne...

I was a plain child. But I was a plain child with an imagination. I was a plain child with imagination enough to believe that there was a pretty fairy with a frilly white dress and yellow blond hair, inside me, waiting to burst forth, just given the chance. ...more

 

From Veronica...I like the dream like quality of the painting.

It is like looking out the window when you can’t get out. It brings Nature in to the room in a mellow, restful and tranquil way. ...more

 

From Mary H

There is place I go sometimes
you have been there too
It lives in that moment where day and evening swallow the colour and become a place of one shade ...more

 

From Tom

The painting shows the artist mode of expression, contemporary creation.The viewers gaze to the visual harmory signifies pease and tranquility... ...more

 

From Philip

Lovely self portraits, Mary.
very fine. ...more

 

From Cathal

And then the imagination starts to spark. Somewhere in the deep dark there is a slow perceptible dawning. Something inchoate starts to articulate, to whisper in the almost dark, inviting a stumble towards a soft brightness. The substance in the shadow still shimmers, unseen, unknown, uncaptured. Imagine it before it is exposed to full glare, while the edges hold promise, before definition defies you. ...more

 

From Catherine S (1st entry)

Derelict House, Mount Usher...The reasons I was initially drawn to this painting was because if the subject – Mount Usher- and the rich use of colour. But Mount Usher is only a memory of treasured and fun times spent there on many occasions with my son when he was small.
But those memories are not going to win me the painting!
So what is it that I like about the painting apart from memories and vibrant colour? ...more

 

From Catherine S (2nd)

I choose this as my favourite as it conjures up such a strong atmosphere of a sleepy little square in a tiny French village in late afternoon. Nothing is really clearly defined in it and it leaves a lot to my imagination.
It brings back fond memories of holidays in France. I am right in the village when I look at this painting. ...more

 

From Una .... I first met you at the Leonard Cohen concert ...

...more

 

From Fiona...I'd go for the moving on from Monet..

And in terms of the painting, I don't know the names of
them but I'd go for the moving on from Monet ( a painintg that looks like there are wild orange water lily pads and the woman in the chair, I had a dress like that once. ...more

 

From Michelle -Afternoon Sun

This painting ‘Afternoon Sun’ was hanging in your house when Richard and I came to visit. As I look at this painting, the feelings and memories evoked are of the warmth of the sun streaming through your large picture windows, the simple lines of your house that feels part of the landscape. Quietness, tranquillity and simplicity. Enthusiasm for living authentically, in touch with the land. ...more

 

From Francesca

Because her hair was the rich, russet colour of amber, the gemstone that comes from fossilised pine tree resin that is washed up on the shores of the Baltic Sea - she was called Amber.

She was kind, gentle and very sensitive to the sorrows of others. Often, when I was sad or distressed, she would hold my hand gently to comfort me. ...more

 

From Alice

I remember your painting very well.they were my favourite ones at the RDS.... ...more

 

From John G

Well as I tend to do I leave things far too often to the last minute so while full of good intentions I may have missed your painting competition but hey.. ...more