Munster Express
Friday 9th July 2004
Liam Murphy

The Co. Waterford artist Blawnin Clancy has a wonderful exhibition Drifter at the South Tipperary Arts Centre in Clonmel. The work in oil and some acrylic on canvas is brave and challenging as she takes on the difficult work of capturing not just the sea in its many moods but she has delighted by including people and figures into the seascape. There is a great happy summer mood in this work as red painted toe-nails peep up through the waves.

A small series of Aquiform fills the canvases with the very colour and essence of a summer sea. It seems obvious that many of the pieces are based on photographic images to capture the mood because some of the perspectives are skewed as in photography. The large Salt Water is a striking pose of a full figure in the waves down to the seeming large toes. This work is a triumph of difficult technique while capturing a beautiful expression. It sets Blawnin Clancy's work on her own curve.

The title piece Drifter has a magical floating feel of a memorable summer that is in all our memories. To stand and admire another large painting Liquidity is to bask in strong powerful water and figurative imagery. Almost There suggests again the wonder of summer without shadows or clouds where the water is inviting and embracing.

Some people might say that Blawnin Clancy's work has lived in the shadows of her sister Rayleen's strong figurative style. But on the evidence of this exhibition Blawnin is her own woman, confident in her own ocean of opportunity. She expects to exhibit in Greyfriars Gallery next year in the year of the Tall Ships. Seek out her work and enjoy its life, its maritime essence, its eternal summer of memory.