Author: catherine dunne

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New Pop Art Collection

Although I was aware of the work of Andy Warhol, when I visited his exhibition in the Hugh Lane Gallery earlier this year it caught me off guard.  I saw how Andy Warhol used the rich and famous in his art and how the whole pop art movement grabbed the attention of a new audience.  So I thought, what if I used pop art to draw attention to our fellow creatures who have no voice in our changing world.

So this is what happened, I took my paints and oil pastels and reimagined my Save the World Collection.  I know it’s not to everybody’s taste, but I love them!  My daughter Dara has always said that it looks like my animal paintings are giving you the side eye – they seem to connect with the viewer.  The Pop Art Collection will be available as wall art in the coming weeks.

I hope you enjoy them.

Catherine

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Mother’s Day – New Designs and Crowns

I’ve been designing new cards for Mother’s Day.  Keeping with the nature vibe and pondering what it means to be a good mother, I have given these animal mothers crowns.

When I visited the Andy Warhol exhibition in Dublin recently, I particularly loved a collaborative painting he did with Jean Michel Basquiat who used crowns in his work.  When I looked into it more, Basquiat was inspired by the crowns in Picasso’s work.  I had started using crowns more and more in my work and felt I was in good company! This has resulted in a new body of my own work that will be launched in the next few weeks.

So the underlying message in these Mother’s Day designs is to wear your crown with pride 👑 … you deserve it!

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Mystery Box

Limited edition Mystery Box for VIPs only!

What you can expect to find inside …

A swim journal worth €18

A wall art piece worth €30

A fab selection of premium greeting cards worth €52

An original doodle by me

Total value of the mystery box is €100

Only TEN mystery boxes are available to VIP subscribers only!

Subscribe to VIP list here

 

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The secret to happiness

portmarnock beach by catherine dunne

I know I’ve been quiet these last few months but I’m back now.  I had to step away for a while due to an illness in my family.  Sometimes when things are running smoothly, life can change very quickly.  It’s like that old expression, ‘no news is good news’. Still, when it comes down to it, it makes us appreciate the good stuff and the people we love in our lives.

During this time, I spent many mornings on Portmarnock beach with old friends that I hadn’t seen in ages.  There’s something so healing about being beside the sea when there is turmoil in your life, it’s interesting how we always turn to nature when times are tough. It was very different to the silent swims I’m used to here in the west, Saturday morning beach discos were new to me and I’m back now to the silence. I came back to the west with a head full of new ideas for new designs so keep an eye out for new work coming up.

Someone once told me that the secret to happiness is to want what you have.

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Wild Atlantic Way Collection

As you may have noticed, I am obsessed with the sea and am endlessly taking photos of it.  This mini collection of occasion cards features photos of waves and beaches on our Atlantic Coast.  Fanore Beach, the beach just outside Ballyconneelly in Connemara, a wave in Doolin and the view of the Blasket Islands from the Dingle Peninsula are where these photos were taken.

I hope you like them.  If you have other mini ranges you’d like to see, I’d love to hear from you.

Catherine

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St Patrick’s Day

St Patrick's Day card

If you’re looking for a St Patrick’s Day card this year, there are a number of great ones including the St Patrick’s Day Collection.  It’s great time of year to send a card abroad, and there are also new sea swimming cards for St Patrick’s Day that you can send to your swimming friends.

 

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Swim Journals

sea swimming journal by catherine dunne

I’m launching a brand new product this week – Swim Journals.

There are three designs to choose from and they all feature my paintings on the cover.  Inside there are 80 blank pages. I deliberately kept the pages blank as I like the idea of having total freedom on the page to write about your swims, who was there, what the water was like, maybe a little drawing or a doodle or a little list of your favourite swim spots.  The options are limitless!

The art on the cover are my watercolour paintings.  I think you can almost feel the wind in them!

I hope you like them.

Catherine

x

 

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Christmas in the big snow 2010

Dublin Christmas Cards 2022

I can clearly remember heading out with my new camera to take photos of Dublin in the big snow. Terrified of slipping and breaking my camera, my friend suggested wearing socks over my shoes (it didn’t work by the way!)  I got the bus into Dublin and managed to get into St Stephen’s Green before anybody else – I don’t remember how I managed it but I know I didn’t climb in! The photos on these Christmas cards are the ones I took that day.  Dublin looked so beautiful and other worldly … it was quiet too and not too slippy as the snow was still fresh without many footprints.

A lovely memory of dear old Dublin in 2010 ❤️

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Original Art and Children’s Books

sea queen by catherine dunne

With summertime here at last, this is what’s going on behind the scenes here in the studio.  I’ve just added a section for original artwork to my website so if you’re looking for some original art for yourself or as a gift, check it out.  I’ll be uploading more in the coming weeks.

The main thing that has been going on is I’m working on a brand new children’s book

How I write children’s books

In case you’re thinking of writing a children’s book yourself, the first stage of my process is I spend a lot of time thinking about the story, it’s like an incubation period and this could take weeks or months.  Then it’s suddenly time to sit down with a notebook and jot down a really rough idea of the book … a beginning, a middle and an end.  This is a very rough outline, then I develop it a bit more.  I’ve reached this stage now so will pop in a little paragraph next month to keep you updated on my progress.

Catherine