Nenaghgal Interviews Jane Steger Lewis from I LOVE MAYO

Jane Steger -Lewis lives in a remote part of May where she draws tremendous inspiration from her surroundings. Her website, I LOVE MAYO features the varied range of artwork she works on including her Love Ireland range - which all reference Irish culture in a contemporary fashion. The print above, Aw Go On! is one such example. Jane creates the illustrations and artwork  by hand - then  the artwork is scanned  and commercially printed. I'm quite familiar with her range of posters but also wanted to let my readers know that she does more traditional paintings as well which I find equally as inspiring.

 Many of them are geared toward the tourist trade with Celtic inspired pieces such as the Celtic Dogs above and the picturesque Yawl below. It's a dream of mine to set out on the coast of Ireland in one of these beautiful boats.

 Below is another example of a poster from her more contemporary range which comes in this lovely rosey red colour and highlights that traditional Irish saying.

Jane told me that while she enjoyed painting landscapes and working on her contemporary prints..."I realised I couldn't or shouldn't ignore my desire to paint detail:I painted my first still life as a gift for some friends. We had a wonderful holiday in their house in France. I got them to tell me about some of the items in their house that were important to them. I picked some lilac from their garden and arranged and photographed the still life. When I got home I painted the picture and sent it to them. It now hangs in pride of place in their lovely French dining room."

The fabric in this piece really drew me to it - it reminds me of the wallpaper in my kitchen.

 This is the view from Mulranny - must get up there someday!

 I loved this still-life of hers as well.

 Celtic Fish in watercolour.

 A painting of Jane's dog Trudi - above.

A Celtic Bird also in watercolour - the colours are so uplifting.

Jane continued to tell me, "Of course the beauty of the surroundings here are a great inspiration. It's so rugged and wild and the weather can be so violent. Part of my reason for moving over from watercolours to acrylics was my desire to capture the landscape. I used to fantasize that I could be the type of artist who splashes lots of thick paint around... I've tried but it just isn't me. I always end up obsessed with tiny details, shapes and pattern! That means that I've started to find landscape painting quite frustrating! I love nature but find myself trying to capture the rocks and individual plants rather than an atmospheric view. My landscapes are more of an illustration than a work of 'art' I think."

This is the view from our house across Clew Bay towards Croagh Patrick (below)

One of my favourite Irish sayings that has certainly received notoriety due to President Obama's visit in 2011 - is Is Feidir Linn. Yes We Can. It's a mantra that is ingrained in my day to day life. I love Jane's poster of this saying and to celebrate that I am giving away a copy of this poster in the colour below which Jane has kindly given to me. To enter to win, please either leave a comment here on my blog about Jane's work or leave a comment on the Nenaghgal facebook page if you cannot leave one here (it seems some people have a problem leaving comments). You must leave a comment to be entered to win and on Sunday, 25th March - I'll randomly select a name out of the "hat". 

Thanks for visiting. Look forward to your comments.!