|| About the Artist
Excerpt from "Galway Now" by Eileen Bennett
Linda Keohane's distinctive watercolours and oil paintings on dried leaves, which reflect her fascination
with the life force in nature, have become her trademark over the years. Her work has been exhibited throughout Ireland
and in Holland, Britain, France, the USA, Canada, New Zealand, and Japan. Her images are highly original, poetic,
and full of character with the combination of leaves and paint producing magically textured effects.
When she finished school, Linda did what most young people do and and set off on her travels, always
intending to go back to finish her education. 
I started selling the small paintings that I had been doing for markets and art fairs
and I was playing music as well. Then I lived in Holland for a couple of years before I came back to Ireland. I always thought
I'd go back to college, that I would have to, to be employable, but the paintings took off. Gradually it became a living. No one was doing small paintings at the time here. I think
I might have picked up a trend from Europe. After a few years I realised I didn't have to go back to college!
Until recently, all her paintings were quite small and detailed, but she has just changed direction and
is now absorbed by colour, shape, and size. The change was prompted by a need to fill a blank space, her vision
of what she wanted and her inability to find it anywhere else.
I suppose I always had the sense that I would like to break out of the small size even though that's
what I had geared myself toward naturally. We have a wall at home that I wanted something for. I had a very specific
idea. We went through a couple of years looking around galleries anywhere we'd be and I never spotted this thing
that I had in my head. The red colour. Maybe landscape, maybe abstract, but quite minimal, and mostly colour. Then
one day I decided I'd see if I could do it myself so after three or four goes I got it and that started me off!
It starts with colour, colour inspires me and then the subject develops, rain, sun, the Burren... People
know me for the watercolours but these bigger pieces are a new departure. These are completely different, using
very bright colours. I've been doing them since last year and I'm very excited about it.