Thursday, 27 October 2016

Event at The Guesthouse arts centre, Cork


A performance artist called Sinead O'Donnell who is completing a residency in Cork has been writing her thoughts and experiences on her facebook page and I really liked what she was writing. It wasn't just the content which made images spring to mind, but it was the fantastical use of description, pulling in people from myth and from fame. 


So I messaged her and asked if she would be interested in my illustrating what she wrote. And the result is a series of visual comic strips which has been included in an event at her residency. 


The collaboration is an performance and installation event that takes place at 7pm on Thursday 27th October 2016 at The Guesthouse arts centre in Cork, Eire. Other collaborators are Irene Murphy and Catherine Harty. Food is shared at The Guesthouse events and on the Thursday menu is: Seafood Ramen and Rice Ball with Fermented Vege. 

The following are a series of drawings created directly from what Sinead wrote on the days of her residency. What is made is a visual comic strip that can stand on its own or be read as an illustrative text to Sinead's writings. I drew images that formed in my mind as I read her words and sometimes these may not echo what the writer intended. A confusion develops. Further fantasy evolves.


Day 1


Day 2



Day 3



Day 4


Day 5


Days 6 & 7


Day 8


Day 9


Day 10


Days 11 & 12


Days 13, 14 & 15






Days 16, 17 & 18



Undressing the Architrave
Thursday 27th October 2016 The Guesthouse
Sinéad O’Donnell, Roisín O’Hagan, Irene Murphy and Catherine Harty
This is a collection of action and intuition based works initiated by artist in residence
Sinéad O’Donnell that have developed through conversation, response to the city
and the experience of working and living within The Guesthouse. All works draw an
awareness to the ways of thinking embodied in specific spaces – the undressing of
the architrave. The physical properties of a space may sometimes obscure the ways
in which inter-activity is built into these structures. This is the reveal.
Sinéad O’Donnell’s Bleeding Venus questions how the notion of a place of display, a
butcher’s stall, disturbingly creates a way of thinking and looking parallel to our
dissection of the classical image of the female. Roisín O’Hagan brings a visual
narrative thread to Sinéad’s experience of navigating the city. Irene Murphy’s Bed
down is a growing installation that inhabits the existing library as a bedroom ,
Catherine Harty ‘s Ghost-worker charts the way an abandoned space may give rise to
fragile, floating and unhinged ways of being.
John Thompson

Sinéad O’Donnell
Sinéad O’Donnell is a Belfast based artist her work is rooted in performance art. She often uses her body to investigate both her own and cultural boundaries, particularly in relation to the restrictions placed on women. Despite deliberately avoiding the sensationalisation of the body, her works often promote strong reactions and emotions.
Video installation: Bleeding Venus
Location: ground floor sittingroom and second floor project space.
Performance: 8.00pm second floor project space.

Roisín O’Hagan
Roisín O’Hagan is an artist and disability activist based in Belfast who responded online to Sinéads social media blog written during her residency at the Guesthouse. Roisin created a graphic interpretation of this dyslexic narrative which Sinéad has compiled together with her text to create a series of comic strip drawings.
Drawings: Ink interpretation
Location: Stairwell

Catherine Harty
Catherine Harty is a Cork based artist who works in a variety of media including painting,
photography and video. She holds a Masters in Contemporary Art Theory from NCAD, and
Fine Arts Practice from Birmingham School of Art, University of Central England.
Video installation: Ghost-worker
Location: First floor office space
Creative Destruction, stuck in the ruins, buildings past and future, boom and
bust.....................flat lining.

Irene Murphy
Irene Murphy is a Cork based artist who questions the role of the artist, creative space, and
engages with a broader concept of creativity. A common link in her art is ideas about
performativeness, site specificity and communality with Murphy’s art acts being private
interventions into public space.
Habitat: Bed Down
Video installation: Breaking with stone
Location: First floor library

(info from The Guesthouse)







(for Kay, my sister, my art teacher and my patron)




Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit
All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

Wednesday, 19 October 2016

Missed a Blogposting...

It's been one of those days. Great intentions but severe drop in energy and the blogpost nearly didn't get written. It happens. So here I am in the early hours of the morning putting finger to key. A short blogging.

I had a list of things to do today and I succeeded in accomplishing three of them. Better than none. I did send copies of a comic strip to a performance artist on residency - I'd illustrated her written words - and she liked it. So my drawings may be included in her exhibition event when she's finished. Happy days. I'd better get my skates on as I've only got until the 27th to finish the strip. 

A little tease...






Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit
All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

Monday, 17 October 2016

Creating a Good Mental Health planner/journal



If you've checked out my blog pages you may have noticed I'm into planners big time. Writing lists and keeping track of what I need to do on a daily/weekly/monthly basis helps manage my forgetfulness. Plus I get to use lots of stickers. 



One thing that's important to me is good mental health and I began to think how a planner designed specifically for that might help with dark phases. If you've ever done any CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) you'll understand the usefulness of recognising triggers and knowing how to break circles of negative thinking.

I am by no means a qualified therapist or counsellor but as a person who struggles from time to time with anxiety and depression I know what works for me. It's a starting point to create some kind of useful and hopefully supportive planner.



I began by creating emoticons. There are all sorts of them online but I wanted ones that were based on weather - feelings can be associated with 'sunny', 'cloudy' or 'stormy'. It's also important to me that I design my own. 



Pages of distraction images might be helpful - I know that getting focussed on a task, creative or not, can steer me clear of an unhelpful spiral. Rather than writing phrases of things to go and do, a simple image could mean many things. The pencil might represent drawing or doodling or colouring in. The television could mean sit down and watch a movie or a documentary or even switch off the telly and go do something else. 


I thought of decorative frames in which words could be written or dates and phrases of good moments and experiences. Or they could hold the dark moments, for good mental health isn't about ignoring the bad bits. It's about coming to terms with all of our lives, warts and all. 


A series of stars and suns making up a night sky filled with places to record moments, or a road winding its  way through the year ahead with achievable goals. When it's done I'll have pages available for free downloading. I had hoped to have this finished by World Mental Health Day but it's taking more thought and work than anticipated. Early days yet...

All constructive comments are welcome

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Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit
All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.






Friday, 14 October 2016

#inktober challenge...








There's been a challenge going round called #inktober which is as it sounds - drawing with black ink during October. I began with a simple scribble and built up the picture using Pentel brushpen (which I've only just found out takes an replaceable ink cartridge - duh!), black ink from an ancient bottle of Pelikan, a black Sharpie and a selection of uniPin fineliners 0.1 - 0.8. I also used a little uni-ball Signo broad white gel pen (found some on Amazon). 

Liked the rough texture which the brushpen created - sometimes a pen running out of ink can give interesting marks. I dropped the Pelikan ink onto the paper and blew at it using a straw. The tiny feathered lines were extended using fineliners. I had worked on the white circle on the left and didn't like it, so the Sharpie filled that in and the white gel pen was added on top to reclaim the white circle - I stopped myself from applying further layers of white to make it dense white - I really liked the woodcut effect. Tiny lines with a 0.1 fineliner extended the brushpen marks. 

At one point I got quite irritated with what I was doing and scrawled over the top, throwing it to oneside before going to bed. In the bright light of morning I saw that I could finish it and adapted the scrawl into the overall image. I also realised I had been scanning each stage of the picture as Black & White. This gives a stark very well defined look. So when I had finished the piece I also scanned it in grey tones...looks very different - I especially like the greyness of the Pelikan ink.






Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit
All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.