Martina Furlong was born in Co.Wexford, Ireland in 1974, moved to London in 1999 and returned to live in Ireland in April 2015. She received a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Painting from Limerick School of Art and Design in 1996. She has had solo and group exhibitions in America, London and Ireland and her work is in private collections across the world.
STATEMENT
I paint colourful, textured landscapes and abstracts in oils and acrylics. My
paintings are inspired by the beauty, ruggedness and magical quality of the
Irish landscape as well as many other intriguing things I encounter every day.
In my work I like to mix reality with memories and imagination and paint my own
interpretation of it. I exaggerate colour, apply layer upon layer of paint, then
work back into the surface with various tools as well as pallet knives and
brushes to create sensuous works of art with a wonderful tactile quality.
I am currently working on a series of paintings that allows me to combine my
landscape and abstract work. This series came about after I did some sketches
from photographs I took at the Irish National Heritage Park in Wexford. They are
semi abstract paintings combining the lines and shapes of the ring forts, stone
circle and megalithic tombs with the organic lines and shapes of the natural
forestry and wet woodlands. I have also incorporated stitching/sewing into my
work for the first time. It is still at an experimental stage but I have
completed four of these pieces for the Heritage series and feel that it may lead
to a new series of work in the near future.
Website:www.martinafurlong.com