Mullingar artist's work on display

A work by the Mullingar artist, Ann Mina, is being shown as part of the Water Colour Society of Ireland's 155th annual exhibition.The exhibition opens for two weeks at the Concourse Arts Centre in Dun Laoghaire County Hall on Monday September 28.Founded in 1870, the Water Colour Society of Ireland has held exhibitions almost annually. Members are based nationwide in the Republic as well as in Northern Ireland. Over the years members have included Jack B.Yeats, Mildred Anne Butler, Paul Henry, Kitty Wilmer O'Brien, Richard Caulfield Orpen, Bea Orpen, Walter Frederick Osborne, George Campbell, Rose Barton, Percy French and Harry Clarke.Ann, a retired GP, began painting in 1980, when she and her husband moved to Mullingar."It was the enthusiasm of the water colour people in Mullingar that got me in," laughs Ann.Within a short time, she was involved in a couple of local art societies."But the main one for me was the Mullingar Art Guilding, which is one of the oldest in the country," she says.Since her retirement from work as a GP, painting has been virtually a "full-time hobby" for her. Lately, she has begun moving from her first love, watercolour."I've been doing a lot of oils in the last eighteen months," she says.It was Ann's prowess as a watercolourist that won her election in the 1990s to the Water Colour Society of Ireland, and she is one of just three Mullingar artists in that body, the others being Terence O'Connell from Collinstown, and Anna-Marrie Leavy from Mullingar.Ann is actually assistant secretary of the Water Colour Society of Ireland.Over 100 watercolourists are showing at this year's exhibition including many leading Irish contemporary artists from various parts of the country and overseas, among them Royal Hibernian and Royal Ulster Academicians, who are also members of the Society. In total, the exhibition features about three hundred paintings in watercolour, gouache and pastels.The Water Colour Society of Ireland's 155th Exhibition is open admission free to the public, daily (Monday 28 September - Saturday 10 October) from 10am - 5pm, including Sunday. The exhibition closes on Saturday 10 October at the earlier time of 1.00pm.