Hi lovely friends,

​What strange days these are..I do hope this finds you healthy safe and well..I am feeling numb at the moment as I'm sure many of us are..its taken me this past number of weeks to really come to terms with everything that's going on in the world right now..Lockdown has affected so much of the world and with so many of our usual daily activities and jobs disturbed by this virus many of us are turning to social media for entertainment.

As a group, many of my peers are like many of you, in times of financial and emotional turmoil, without wanting to whine I personally have lost a long planned exhibition, several workshops and a much awaited residency in the next number of weeks.  I had thought the residency would have been a focussed patch of time for me to cohesively pull together a number of new works as I prepare for two solo exhibitions in the Autumn/ Winter season... I am hoping to be able now, with my husband at home to continue with my work whilst on lockdown. I need to believe "this too will pass"!

It feels a natural time to look outside of ourselves at the moment, to think of those worse off then ourselves, to those struggling with anxiety and uncertainty...but what can we do from home? A solution was offered by artist, poet and friend Roisin Duffy...lets offer our unseen works as a respite to this 'crazy'! Art soothes the soul and stirs the heart...where indeed would we be without music, poetry, theatre, visual arts and crafts in these lockdown days...Roisin reached out across the community and developed the #ARTINLOCKDOWN facebook page...daily she curates an exhibition of twenty artworks from twenty invested artists for you to enjoy from your safe haven...this daily exhibition is released to facebook at 6pm, if you miss it not to worry a recap video is released and shared by many of the artists the following day at noon!

​I am aware in the greater scale of a pandemic this is little in the way of comfort, however if we as a collective can for five minutes give you respite from the outside world we feel our nightly efforts are worth it...I sincerely hope you do too.

​Below is a snippet of the over 400 works shared to date.. I invite you to find peace for your head and heart where you can, and if it's with us on facebook, do let us know...we need connection now more then ever, to family, to friends, to one another.

Be safe, be well, be patient, Oh and keep washing those hands ... we can do this xox

xx N

I was thrilled to recently drop a number of small encaustic works and a circular acrylic on canvas into the beautiful Creative Showrooms at "Collective in the Market Sq" recently.  Catherina Donaghy has created a beautiful space in this most historic of Market Squares here in Co.Monaghan, filled with the most lush of local crafts, textiles, jewels and art.  Its a feast for the eyes and its hard to take a step without having to stop and admire the next wonderful item on display!! Seriously Gorgeous!!!!
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Across from the Shriley Arms Hotel and next door to the Carrickmacross lace museum - its a place for a leisurely afternoon for sure! Enjoy x N.

Hi Friends,

Hope this finds you well, so if you know me at all you know I've been banging on about this amazing opportunity to exhibit in the ultra exclusive Gstaad region of Switzerland.  Well it was as simply AMAZING!

Miriam Fitzgerald Juskova, Fran Halpin and I set off last Thursday with travelling partners Mark Kelly (sexy groupie number 1) and Lorraine (Fran's sister and Sexy groupie number 2)! 

​ For fun and because we were proud of the opportunity to represent Ireland, in this truly international exhibition, we geared up!     ***Go Team Ireland***

We travelled in great form, lots of excited chats and fun had as you can see but we were going to do business and stand up for inequality in the arts world as was the remit of the show, arranged, curated and fashioned by organiser Leticia De Prado and her team at Artsfemin. 

The surrounding were crazy gorgeous, seriously!  Huss Hotel Gstaad is simply stunning as is the region it sits in...Saanen the local town is picture perfect in every way at the foot of the snow dusted alps.

Night one, after checking in and turning quite a few heads in this exclusive enclave with our Team Garb and after a very long day travelling we decided to join DJ Erick in the bar along with several other artists who had also arrived for the exhibition opening (in total 50 of the 55 artists where in attendance from across the globe) it was wonderful to finally meet our fellow exhibitors, we also met and mingled with a Google team party from Zurich thanks to my brother and his ability to make friends every where he goes in minutes!

We retired after a while to "wait for it" our own igloo for a quiet nightcap before turning in!!

 On Friday, after a Monster Breakfast, I had opportunity to spend a short amount of time with my sister Nyree, Declan her husband and their gorgeous daughters who live in Switzerland and who made the three hour track to come support me...(love you x) we headed into the beautiful town of Saanen, a picture perfect chalet town of quaint coffee shops and high end retail..after a short visit I had coffee in town with the other artists and Yuhdi Menuhin!? (he established a renowned music school here) before tracking back up the beautiful winding path to Huus.  We headed our separate ways to spruce up before reconvening for, a quick chat and lippie check - then we were on.

The venue was a buzz of excitement, glamorous, bustling and busy!  With opening speeches by organiser Leticia of Artsfemin and French Princess Hermine de Clarmont-Tonnere, the mixing and mingling went well into the night with a presentation of the catalogue and a certificate to each of the artists involved.  Those that know me will understand how difficult I find it to take pictures during an event so I have included only a small selection here. 

I met so many amazing people over the course of the three days exhibiting during this event, so many new talents to follow on Social platforms, to share and learn with, and a handful I shall stay in contact with for many a year!  The only downside of this international exhibition is the aftermath - Corona was just hitting us as we left, and as I am immuno-suppressed I did take precautions with hand-washing and gels but the severity of it only really impacted me on my return...for a few days now I have been suffering a chronic sinus infection and after a call from my doctor am on a weeks lockdown with antibiotics to beat the band - And today the schools and childcare facilities closed down until the 29th March! 

 it doesn't dampen the experience of travel and experiences like this with family, friends - new and old, the opportunity to do this type of work is never wasted and is always a learning curve and as I carry on in my creative journey I do hope it shall continue, and did I mention the PRESS was Great! - Go safe my friends, and thanks to all in Huus, Artsfemin, Gstaad and Solothurn for such a memorable experience.

​ x N