The paintings and art of Jimmy Kelly

This site is basically about me, Jimmy Kelly, and my art. My paintings. The thinking that goes into the process of creating them, and all the attendant concerns that flow both into that process and then out of that whole melting pot. More comes out than just the finished work. New thoughts and ideas and ways of looking at things. That is also what this site is about. Those thoughts and writings for you to read and think about and hopefully relate to.

If you've read all about me before, click on over to the latest article in the box below

I’ll start with myself. Modern Irish artist? I don’t know what that really means. All I know is that painting holds a very important place in my life, and that my work changes as much as I change, which is largely a good thing.

If I was to write a page about myself, I would first sit down and imagine myself with a kindly mentor or guide, spirit or otherwise addressing me as I choose my words carefully. He or She would be kind and understanding, but very challenging. They would be prompting me to cut out all the self censorship that is born out of fear and don’t be afraid to reveal the real me, because it is only by being truly myself and sometimes sharing that story, warts and all, that anything of value can be born of these words. With these words and with their constant help and encouragement, new words would take shape and aquire a meaning I had never previously seen.

They would be pleased at this revelation and I might be concerned at first and maybe then hearted, not a little. I would say things, like ‘born on a farm in Ireland’. Roman Catholic. A loner as a child who went for long solitary walks on summer evenings, under the pretence of hunting for rabbits, but really wondering what lay over the next horizon. A journey which has never really ended to this day. Did well in school, and then took the unusual step of becoming a student in the Capuchin Franciscans for five years. Largely happy years, I wanted it to be my vocation, but I was not at home there, and found myself ‘back out in the world’ working in pubs, finishing my last year as part of a philosophy degree and feeling very very lost in myself. A feeling which was to remain throughout most of my twenties.

Around thirty years of age, I started painting and it soon became my consuming passion. I struggled a lot and still do. I struggle with my attempts to find time to paint. To figure out what I want to paint. I fight constantly with the self-doubt that I have nothing of value to say or to paint, so why bother with the struggle. Then I try to ignore the inner critic and the few outer ones who see my finished work and scratch their heads in despair. Mediocre, derivative, are just a few words I have fired at myself. But I love painting, the paint, the smells, above all the colours and the means of expression it affords, even most times I don’t know what or why I need to express.

I paint to survive. I presume all artists are the same, all people who settle on some medium of creative expression and soon it becomes a love hate relationship of breakups and renewals, forgotten promises and remembered dreams. All in the space of the forty-five minutes we have steele staked out for ourselves. Carved out of a life of increasing responsiblilities and little time for timebound luxuries, but we persist and we keep going.

This is what this site is about. Jimmy Kelly’s paintings. What goes into them, what has come out of this calcophony of thougths and emotions. A searching for integrity or expression, frequent failures. A lot of thinking on the subject. Its all here for you to enjoy, and to inform, if you should ever feel that something has touched you and you find yourself being drawn back again and again to a particular work. Maybe it is yours. Maybe this painting is part of your life story. A dovetail of our two lives, because every painting here needs a home. I have done my work and I hope I have been true to myself. Enjoy the paintings and words and articles on this site.

Creativity and intelligence. Two valuable commodities, if we had them we would be made. It would be simply a matter of punching in time, creating cool art, and telling anyone interested, that’s what we do. We sell art. If only it was that simple. But its not that simple, there’s an infinitude of variables big and small, some totally subjective that go into producing a painting, and then it just sits there, hoping for an audience. I find the whole process amazingly intriguing and I guess because you’re reading this, you probably have a keen interest in it to, the world of art and art making. Be it Irish art, or modern art, or whatever, there is a common story.

If you’d like to keep up with my story and hear of updates and news on new paintings, please sign up below for my monthly bulletin – Jimmy Kelly the Painter’s Progress. I promise to keep your email safe and it won’t be sold on.