‘I couldn’t make this up in my wildest dreams

Tue, 20 Apr, 2021 - 15:30

Eve Kelliher

Its plotline may have kept viewers on tenterhooks, as they followed the twists and turns of RTÉ’s Smother. But one Munster artist was also watching the screen to see her own double debut on the hit show.

Because not only was Clare woman Ann Daly an extra in the series, the landscape artist’s paintings were chosen to adorn the walls of the many houses used on location for filming.

Inspired by west Clare’s dramatic skies and coastline, Ann’s work captures the movement of the sea and the ever-changing light.

Moy to Liscannor by Ann Daly.

She says the coast and the sea “encapsulate everything I want to paint — family, home, memories, longing, and hope”.

Ann’s work tends to veer towards the evening sunsets, and she’s particularly fond of a dramatic skyline, an Atlantic storm, and the movement of waves.

Making waves in the west Clare coastal community last year was talk of the new drama being shot there.

“In February 2020, I received a call from Smother’s production design manager’s assistant, asking me, ‘Are you open, we will be there in five minutes’,” said Ann.

“I knew there was filming on a new BBC/RTÉ drama, and a lot of excitement about in Lahinch and surrounding areas and had my name down as an extra — but I was not expecting this.

“When the production designer came in, looked around, and said, ‘Yep, I want this, this, this, this, and this if we may, to use in our character sets in Smother’, I was blown away! All my work on TV!”

Freedom by Ann Daly.

The paintings were duly collected and couldn’t have been placed in a more desirable setting than Moy House on the cliff overlooking Lahinch Bay. “The paintings looked like they belonged,” added the artist.

“The next thing I knew I was called to be an extra. I was going to be in Smother along with my paintings — I couldn’t have made this up in my wildest of dreams — and they can be wild!”

Ann features in a number of scenes in Smother, and says meeting the entire cast and crew including lead actors Dervla Kirwan and Stuart Graham was “a personal highlight”.

Conor Mullen with Ann Daly's work.

And Dervla Kirwan, Conor Mullen, and Stuart Graham were among the many new fans to visit her gallery. When Covid-19 hit, filming was suspended and the gallery closed — and, like everyone else in the country, uncertainty loomed for Ann.

Once lockdown phase one was over, Ann’s gallery was back open in Liscannor, but she says that, with no international tourists, she relied heavily on the local community and she found the Irish staycationers were incredibly supportive.

Firesky by Ann Daly.

Ann’s work can be seen and purchased online on www.anndaly.ie

Her paintings are created with a thick palette knife, impasto oils giving texture.

Born in London in 1969, Ann moved to Limerick in 1974 with her family as her parents wanted them to gown up in Ireland.

Ann’s love of painting the sea stems from visiting her grandfather Mick in Liscannor when she was growing up — his cottage overlooks the Liscannor/Lahinch bay.

Light Up by Ann Daly.

After the last recession, Ann rekindled her passion for capturing the waves on canvas, and she was back in Liscannor spending time with her grandfather. There she was inspired to paint the Atlantic Ocean. Ann opened a gallery and working studio in Liscannor in 2017.