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Behind Every Face, There’s Another Discovery.

Carol Cronin

Carol paints stunning seascapes and runs the The Carol Cronin Gallery and art studio on Upper Green St. in Dingle.

What is the best to start the day?

Sunshine and a pot of black coffee

For what in your life do you feel most grateful?

I appreciate it every day that I am healthy.

If I asked you at 5 what you wanted to be when you grow up what would you say?

I don't remember ever wanting to be anything else but a painter.

What makes you feel young?

My family. I'm the fifth of six children, so I'll always be four people's 'little sister'... no matter how old I get.

What did you think was cool then, when you were young but isn’t cool now?

Smoking

What is the coolest thing you own?

I held a party in Dun Chaoin in 2004. The house overlooked the Blasket islands and neighbours, friends, and family were there. It went on until the dawn. The immensely talented poet Dairena Ní Chinnéide was there and later wrote a poem. It is published with a dedication in her collection 'Måthair an Fhiaigh / The Raven's Mother published by Cló Iar Chonnacht (See publishers website: www.cic.ie) I don't own the poem, but that book is the coolest thing I own

ceo-ti

What’s the best meal you have ever had?

The main course: a ham sandwich, accompanied by tea (from a flask) followed by a couple of jaffa cakes... the location was Leac na Muice,a slope of rock on Inis Tuaisceart (aka The Sleeping Giant) on a beaming sunny day in 2003. I was given the opportunity to help round up the sheep on the uninhabited island. I'll never forget it...what an incredible place... food never tasted so good!

If you could have lunch with one person alive or dead, who would it be?

John O'Farrell from Pax House. (preferably he would be alive though...)

Name one really surprising thing that set your heart pumping and gave you an adrenaline rush?

Emerging from a train station in Chennai, India in the dead of night and bumping straight into an elephant.

What are most people surprised to learn about you?

That I speak Dutch and worked for a competitive intelligence software company in the financial industry while living in Amsterdam.

What do you usually follow when making decisions, your head or your heart?

I would follow my head in day by day situations... I save my heart for my paintings

What’s the best advice you have ever received?

Keiko Hara, an amazing Japanese painter I met in 1990 once told me to 'Make friends with your work'. At the time I didn't know what she meant. In recent times I do ....and it makes all the difference.

What is something that most people learn only after it’s too late?

That there is always a choice.

What always makes you smile?

If for any reason I haven't seen the sea for a while... the first glimpse of it always makes me smile. It's like seeing an old friend.

photo by Séan Lordan
Stormlight by Carol Cronin

You can visit the The Carol Cronin Gallery on Upper Green Street in Dingle the next time you stay at Pax House or visit her website at www.carolcronin.com

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