Fionnuala and Jonathan Nolan
Fionnuala and Jonathan Nolan
We’ve enjoyed getting to know Fionnuala down at the pool recently where she has been coming with her brother the gorgeous Jonathan Nolan.
What is your Bondi story?
I am in Bondi because my brother Jonathan lives here with his husband Stephen. And last year, my son Cillian and his girlfriend Sora, decided to give Australia a go too. I’ve travelled in Australia before so I feel no pressure to do anything touristy, which is bliss! I am just living the life of a Bondisider for a few months (and avoiding the snow and cold in wintery Ireland!). I love having lingering lazy swims and just mooching about the parks, the coastal walks and nearby beaches. Jonathan has given me his old office here so I have my paints and sketchbooks to return to daily and record my musings, my own 'Bondi story'.
How do you spend the first hour of your day?
If I was in Dublin it would be walking with Ralfie, our Leonberger dog and a visit to my studio at the bottom of the garden in Sandycove, but here, it's Icebergs or Neilsen Park for a swim and watching the light grow and play on the water. If it's a yoga day, Jonathan and I will be in Bellevue Park with the wonderful Lars doing a class after a swim. I'll always take a few photos too, of the trees, the water, the sky, the light, etc.
Is there one thing you’d like people to know about you?
I am a painter, I have been creating all my life and painting, making and sketching are my daily routine, I don't believe art is something separate from daily life but an integral part of it and everyone has the potential to tap into their own creativity. I love recording my travels and experiences in notebooks and sketchbooks. I loosely describe my work as abstract landscape but it is rooted in my own personal experiences. I like the idea of layers of landscape, history, past lives and memories and I strive to capture that elusive sense of connection we all feel between the natural world and our own personal stories.
I paint because that is how I exist in the world, how I react to my environment. It is essential to me, how I deal with what life brings me. It is how I work things out, my natural response to the world.
You can see more of Fionnuala’s luminiscentl work at www.fionnualanolan.com
Fathom, Co Wexford' oil on canvas, 150 x 100cm from the Wild Places series
