Some paintings wait patiently for years before revealing themselves. Playthings is one of them.

As a child, dolls were more than toys to me. They were companions. I imagined them coming to life at night and spoke to them as though they could hear me. Years later, I saw a photograph of a pile of old dolls someone had taken to offer them for sale as a job lot online, and those childhood memories resurfaced with unexpected clarity.

I made drawings of each doll and found myself recalling not only their familiar faces but even their distinctive smell—a musty mixture of toast, biscuits and sweaty hands that instantly transported me back to childhood.

The original photograph showed the dolls carelessly thrown onto an old carpet, but the happenstantial nature of their arrangement made me want to transform that moment of abandonment into something quieter and more contemplative. Stacked together, they begin to suggest both vulnerability and resilience, while faded wallpaper patterns evoke domestic spaces, memories and lives that have quietly slipped into the past.

Playthings is ultimately a reflection on attachment, loss, and the emotional weight carried by ordinary objects long after they have been discarded.

All prints are professionally produced museum-quality giclée reproductions of original artworks by Christine Gallagher.

PLEASE NOTE:

The following amounts will be added at the Checkout to cover the cost of postage and packaging according to your location:

UK and UK Highlands & Islands 

Small Size Print - £6  -   Medium Size Print - £9  -  Large Size Print - £13  -  Square 30cm x 30cm Print - £9   - Square 60cm x 60cm Print - £13

EUROPE

Small Size Print - £15.50   -   Medium Size Print - £18  -   Large Size Print - £40   -  Square 30cm x 30cm Print - £18   -    Square 60cm x 60cm Print - £40