Liz Doyle b. 1956

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Hailing from a small island off the coast of County Donegal in the North West Ireland, Liz Doyle notes how the horizon is a constant presence in her life. A traveler throughout her childhood and adulthood, Doyle was born in Germany, lived in Nepal as a child and has lived in various locations within both England and Wales. She has resided in Ireland for 11 years.

Color and light are the foundation behind Liz Doyle’s bold yet transient paintings. Her works are focused meditations that challenge what is seen and unseen and how one’s surroundings affect an artist’s vision. Working in oil and cold wax medium on canvas and board, the paintings are mostly modest in scale. Doyle uses bright palettes exploring a range of jewel and earthy hues, not unrelated to where the paintings may lead the viewer in their sense of place.

Existing in the realm of metaphor the paintings elicit moments of personal motif and signage. They reference maps and mountains, both ways to trace one’s bearings, as would be needed during a journey travelling by sea or space, such as the exhibition’s title describes. While the work is informed by the artist’s surroundings at her time of making, they emit a sense of water and land. This is perhaps a byproduct of daily visualization of what is on the artist’s mind or in her sight. Doyle relates the tethering lines to having  a directional element—something that moves from point A to B. She relates this imagery in her paintings, to being able to see the mountains on the skyline from her studio and how they ground her in knowing where she is and when she is. These references between what is seen, felt and explored with a focus on painting itself give homage to artists such as Joan Mitchell and Robert Motherwell.