Daniel Nelis Works - RUA 2025
"Of Winter"
Much of my practice is informed by the area that I am from, a part of Donegal surrounded by miles of bog land that envelop my childhood home. The work 'Of Winter' is perhaps the most direct response to this area, not in a representational way but in the feelings it conjures. It is a painting of a small stone from this landscape. Painted over several years, the intimacy of the mark making on this larger scale seeks to reference what it is like to bear witness to these landscapes. Bog land carries a sense of stillness, coupled with a very real awareness of the passage of time through the scars incurred upon it by being worked and acted upon. With that comes a heightened awareness of one's self and the limits of one's own existence, evoking notions of the sublime.
"Frances"
This is a portrait I painted of Frances McCaffrey, from Belfast, which has never been shown publicly. While many of my figurative works are of the people and places that I know personally, this commissioned piece also sits naturally with the concerns of my practice.
The painting reflects the warmth and quiet intelligence I encountered during my meetings with Frances, without slipping into a posed cliché to define identity. It also embodies my interest in rendering detail, from the texture of wool on the jumper, to the stones of the necklace, and the curls in the hair.