Clare Hartigan has been involved in creative activity since she was a child growing up in Castleconnell, County Limerick. She studied printmaking at the Limerick School of Art and Design and then moved to Cork where she started painting.After a few years, Clare returned to her home village where she now works full-time as an artist. Clare's most important interests are her painting and her family; her partner Eoghan and their son Oisin and daughter Daisey.

My paintings are like a diary. On a personal level, they are a reflection of my own life. But at the same time, on a broader basis, they are also a reflection of the lives I see around me. Ever since childhood I've been interested in beliefs. So my work is about balance and equilibrium, about ying and yang. It examines life and death, love nature, spirituality and religion. It is concerned with man and nature discovering how to be in harmony with one another.

My early childhood was very magical. I was brought up beside the river Shannon in county Limerick by an earthy Father and a painterly Mother, along with a brother and two sisters. We swam in clear water and ran in lush green fields. We were Indians, hunting, fishing and exploring. And I spent a lot of time in my imagination, a happy loner. My best friends were my dog and the faeries that haunted the river.

Then, as it often does, the pendulum swung the other way. During my teenage years I remember more darkness than light. I remember walking a thin line with thoughts of depression and suicide. I wore black and looked miserable. Insecurity and lack of confidence were my soulmates. One day, I made a dress the colour of a rainbow and wore it to meet my dark friends.

Already, it felt better.Things happened while living in that dark world. Things that hurt deeply still make me cry inside. But without the things that hurt, I couldn't be who I am today. One day while waiting at a bus stop, I met the light of love. He showed me a poem he had written and it still echoes through my thoughts.

The path is not easy and by no means smooth. The essence is to find out who you are, and that is the one thing nobody else can do for you. I don't like explaining my paintings too much because I feel it is better to look inside and discover your own explanation. Each piece is deeply personal and yet, I believe, it holds a universal meaning. Your interpretation is more important to you than mine can be. more