Irish-born, but Brooklyn based since 1986, Elizabeth O'Reilly responds in her work to the tug between her Irish homeland and her adopted America. Her most recent work (below, and next page) is the subject of an exhibition on view through March 2021 at George Billis Gallery in Westport, CT.

2020 is a year to remember. All my teaching jobs slipped away, but what lay before me was time. As luck would have it I was able to take spring and summer off to paint, three months of it in Cushing, Maine. Welcomed into the cocoon of a family I wasn’t alone. Even better, I had the company of a fellow painter and dear friend.

I would wake at dawn, sometimes pre-dawn, as the lobster trucks trundled past my window. I would start the day with a walk. Most days I would see some creature: a porcupine, a rafter of turkeys, a hawk, and one special day a pileated woodpecker. The quieter the road, the less shy the creatures. A pandemic will quiet the roads.

Days and months passed in the studio, working side by side on our separate tables and on our separate paintings, with a companionable hum. I might wander in the garden, find some coneflowers, a zinnia, or a scabiosa to paint. And so time passed. It was a kind of bliss.

“Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which sustained him through temporary periods of joy,” said Yeats. The pandemic brought tragedy and loss to many, but a summer of painting also brought much joy. A silver lining indeed.

Single Campanula
2020
Oil on aluminum
7" x 5"

Campanula
2020
Oil on aluminum
7" x 5"

Campanula in Woods
2020
Oil on panel
12 " x 22"

Scabiosa on Gray
2020
Oil on aluminum
5 " x 7"

Scabiosa on Black
2020
Oil on aluminum
5 " x 7"

Scabiosa on Violet
2020
Oil on aluminum
5 " x 7"

Scabiosa withh Plants
2020
Oil on aluminum
7" x 5"

Clematis on Pale Green
2020
Oil on aluminum
7" x 5"

Three Clematis
2020
Oil on panel
8 " x 11"

Clematis on White
2020
Oil on aluminum
5 " x 7"

Clematis on Yellow Ground
2020
Oil on panel
9" x 11"

Clematis on Pink Ground
2020
Oil on aluminum
5 " x 7"

Sunset with Orange Sky
2020
Oil on aluminum
7" x 5"

Full Moon and Tree
2020
Oil on aluminum
7" x 5"

Sunset, Wyeth House, Maine
2020
Oil on aluminum
7" x 5"

Night Lights, Maine
2019
Oil on aluminum
7" x 5"