O'Flannery

Jill O'Flannery was born in Northern California and grew up in the Sacramento Valley. Early creative encouragement from her father, who was also a painter, stirred her already inventive nature as a child. Eager to pursue her instilled artistic abilities, her interest in capturing the truth that she found in human anatomy and expression was constantly fuelled by the world around her. Her endeavours led her to an art institute in California to study painting, as well as to academic pursuits overseas in Amsterdam, where she explored work of the Dutch masters. Bold characters peering through shadowed profiles of both haunted and spirited souls are always apparent in O'Flannery's work. Such techniques reflect the artist's deep admiration for the brilliance of this era. O'Flannery's compositions often embrace strikingly unique faces frozen in a perfectly captured moment. The sometimes unconventional perspective of a setting within a room or a background landscape creates a mood that is intriguingly dimensional. Curious viewers often find themselves imagining that they too play a role in such engaging affairs. From period pieces of traditional ballroom scenes to a solitary young maiden playing her mandolin on the waterfront, the artist has the ability to portray the charisma of both the working class and royalty of the times with such an allure that viewers can almost feel the disposition within the personalities that are rendered. In addition to painting, O'Flannery is also a doll and puppet maker. When asked to describe her own creative style, O'Flannery explained: `I think, like most artists, my style comes from a collection of things I've seen and enjoyed. I can only describe the process as sometimes euphoric and sometimes tortuous.`