NANCY
HOLLERAN
Nancy Holleran’s work attempts to capture moments of life’s fleeting pleasures. As an artist, she seeks to share her interest in discovering beauty in new places, diverse people, and to provide the rare opportunity to simply sit with the sublimity of life’s intimate and ordinary moments. She combines the uniquely nostalgic effect of the photograph, which she uses to guide her practice, with a technical mastery of the watercolor medium to effectively translate her lifeaffirming positivity into an experience with which her viewers can feel deeply connected.
The composition of her pieces invites the viewer into a singularly emotional experience of her subjects. Holloran’s process involves a meticulously planned combination of light watercolor washes and transparent overlays, an effort that slowly transforms her canvases into living registers of her subjects’ energy. The resulting characterization of these subjects intends to express a certain closeness, felt in the soft, delicate details of her multilayered scenes. Her desire to convey the feeling of the relationship she has with the people and places she paints suffuses her work, lending the finished pieces an ethereal, radiant presence.
Italian Sunset in Barolo, Italy, 2023
Watercolor on Arches rag paper 14” x 20”
$750
Our world is filled with great visual experiences. Ones that make us smile; ones that touch our hearts or ones that reveal nature’s ever-changing beauty. Photography allows me to collect the positive moments in life, from which I can choose the subject matter for my paintings and develop compositions and color schemes. My process involves a series of watercolor overlays, starting with transparent then moving onto semi-transparent coats, to create more depth. I use latex resist for details and a final transparent glaze to add luminosity.
The most exciting part of the process is watching a blank piece of paper transform into something full of life. It encourages me to challenge myself and explore techniques and ideas that are out of my comfort zone. My paintings take simple scenes from anywhere in the world to offer an uplifting experience to the viewer. In a world inundated with negativity, I choose to paint the positive to remind us of the good that exists every day.
