My name is Eilís
After graduating in Science of Animal Productions, I worked for several years in Italy as an agricultural consultant specialised in Dairy Cow nutrition and management. My first contact with the Informatic world took place when I had to learn how to use software for my daily work. Unexpectedly, I discovered a flair for computers and became deeply interested in Webdesign. Developing websites with an eye for style and usability is now my main activity. (Click here to browse my production).
Hobbies I love: writing, swimming, reading and walking my dogs (but not necessarily in this order!) Digital Art is my latest passion, triggered by the long months of the pandemic lockdown.
I live in the wonderful Renvyle Peninsula (Connemara, Ireland) with my husband Liam and my three rescued dogs: June (a terrier), Poldo (a border collie) and Jojo (a miniature Poodle). We are known in the neighbourhood as "the Italians" guess why! (Hint: our birth names are Elisabetta and Guglielmo).
Living in such inspirational surroundings I certainly don't lack subjects to portray: visit my Portfolio page to have a look at my works.
My Artist's Journey
My journey as an artist is one of deep roots, unexpected awakenings, and a perpetual love affair with beauty in all its forms. Born and raised in Italy, I grew up immersed in a culture where art is not merely admired but breathed, lived, and felt in every stone, fresco, and piazza. From the earliest years of my childhood, I was captivated by the rich tapestry woven by the great masters who called this extraordinary country home — Caravaggio's dramatic chiaroscuro, the tender luminosity of Raphael, the divine ambition of Michelangelo. It was amidst this backdrop of staggering cultural richness that my appreciation for art first blossomed, quietly and irrevocably shaping my perception of the world and instilling in me a profound reverence for the aesthetic in all its guises.
Yet for many years, this reverence remained that of an admirer rather than a creator. Life, with all its demands and distractions, kept the artist within me in a kind of gentle hibernation. It was not until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that I truly and fully embraced my identity as an artist. Faced with the profound challenges of isolation, uncertainty, and the strange suspended stillness that descended upon the world, I turned to digital art as both refuge and means of creative expression. This period of forced introspection became an unexpected gift — a catalyst for artistic evolution that propelled me towards the discovery of new techniques, new styles, and ultimately a new understanding of who I am.
The digital canvas opened before me like an undiscovered continent, and I explored it with the hunger of someone who had been waiting a long time without knowing it. Among the many techniques I have since embraced, I find my truest voice through the digital impasto method and abstract realism — two approaches that, in my hands, become deeply intertwined. The impasto technique, with its rich, tactile layering of paint, lends my work a physical immediacy and emotional weight that resonates beyond the screen. Inspired by the traditional palette knife approach, I translate this into the digital realm with bold, confident strokes that build texture and depth, creating surfaces that seem almost three-dimensional in their intensity. Woven throughout many of my works are touches of gold leaf and various metallic brushstrokes — glimmers of copper, silver, and bronze — that catch a kind of imagined light and elevate the everyday into something luminous and timeless. Through the interplay of vibrant colours and these subtle metallic accents, I strive to capture not merely the appearance of the world around me, but its very essence and emotional charge.
My artistic vision finds perhaps its fullest and most passionate expression in two distinct but complementary territories: the seascape and the animal portrait. The rugged, wind-swept coastlines of Connemara on Ireland's wild Atlantic shore have become a spiritual home for my imagination. There is something about the Irish coast — its ancient, indifferent power, the way the light shifts over pewter-grey water, the drama of waves breaking white against black rock — that demands to be painted. In my seascapes, I seek to transport the viewer to a place where time slows and the natural world reveals itself in all its untamed splendour. Each canvas is an act of devotion to that landscape, an attempt to hold still, even for a moment, what is perpetually in motion.
Equally central to my artistic heart is my profound love for animals, and in particular for dogs. Anyone who has shared their life with a dog understands the extraordinary depth of feeling and character that lives behind those eyes — the loyalty, the joy, the quiet understanding that passes between species without need for words. Capturing that essence in a portrait is one of the most rewarding challenges I know. My animal portraits aim to go far beyond likeness. Through the same impasto-inspired brushwork and luminous colour that defines my landscapes, I strive to render the inner life of my subjects — the particular tilt of a head, the warmth in a gaze, the personality that makes each animal utterly unique. These portraits have become some of my most deeply felt works, and they resonate strongly with viewers who recognise in them the animals they have loved.
There is another dimension to my creative life that has grown organically from the paintings themselves: the art of storytelling. Many of my paintings serve as the inspirational triggering starters for the tales I write. A seascape shimmering with gold and silver metallic light might conjure a story of a sailor lost between worlds. A portrait of a dog with ancient, knowing eyes might open the door to a fable. The painting comes first, breathing and alive on the canvas, and the narrative follows naturally as though it were always waiting within the image, needing only to be released. In this way, my visual art and my writing exist in a constant, fertile conversation — each enriching and illuminating the other.
In essence, my art reflects the myriad influences that have shaped my journey: the storied landscapes of Italy, the wild and elemental shores of Connemara, the unconditional companionship of the animals I have known and loved. Each painting is a testament to the transformative power of creativity and to the remarkable fact that beauty — whether found in a cresting wave, a dog's trusting gaze, or a single stroke of gold across a digital canvas — has the quiet power to remind us of everything that truly matters.
