My Life’s Journey

I can’t think back to a time when I didn’t have a paintbrush or pencil in my hand. My father was an amateur painter, no cupboard door was safe once he started. Unfortunately, he painted over them all so I don’t have anything except the memories of what he did.

He inspired me to paint and gave me a gift of a sable brush when I passed the 11+. I always knew that I wanted to be an artist and my time at college was a sheer joy. When I married, my husband Tom built me my own studio and he has been my encourager and supporter through the years.

I came to writing later and I suppose I’ve simply considered it another way of creating images, this time with words. My enjoyment of storytelling came from spending time with a great aunt who could spin a fine yarn and the motivation of another storyteller, Liz Weir. I enjoy writing up the stories that I’ve heard and illustrating them. Paintings will last but we need to preserve our stories and what better way than to tell them and write them down.

“I was born in Derry and I live in Derry. I have travelled widely but I always come back home. Derry is a city that is kind and friendly and when we lived in other places I missed that. My husband was awarded a Teacher Exchange year to California and walking my daughter to school I got to know people who always seemed to be out doing their gardening. When my mother visited for her birthday on St Patrick’s Day, we had a party.  My cousin, an American said, ‘How do you know so many people?’, I said, ‘I walk, I talk, it’s just being neighbourly really.’”

“I was the first in the family to go to Grammar School and I loved the art class. My father bought me a sable brush and I treasured it. My teacher Sheila McClean, was inspiring. I went to Art College in Belfast and studied Fine Art and Bookbinding. Designing and binding books is a whole mixture of imagination, art, craft and precision.”

“I taught art for 17 years and in California I did bookbinding for the UC Berkeley library. After we came home although I loved teaching I decided to open my own studio. Business flourished and I was happy although I often lost track of time and had to set an alarm to cook dinner for the children! I had books exhibited in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, in an International Bookbinding Exhibition and that went on tour America. There was no shortage of work.”

“About twenty-five years ago I began writing and I loved that. It’s just creating pictures with words really. I always enjoyed reading and writing poetry. After working on a website www.derryghosts.com I was asked to compile a collection of ghost stories. My first book was Haunted Derry and three others followed. Storytelling came later when I saw Liz Weir enrapture children in Tom’s school and over the years she was the one who encouraged me to tell. She was my mentor, and friend.”

“One milestone that meant a lot to us was when my husband and I went on a Marriage Encounter weekend. It was about enhancing our communication and sharing what was important to each other and it was a truly positive and enriching experience. Tom is the one who keeps encouraging and helping. I know I’m very fortunate. When I mooted the idea of a studio, he got builders in to do it and worked on it himself too, otherwise I’d have been doing the work at the kitchen table!.”

“My mother was a wise woman. On a good day she would say, ‘Don’t let the house take its time out of you, you take your time out of the house and we’d go on a picnic to Buncrana. That was her way, ‘forget material things’, her words were always, ‘A kind word and a smile don’t cost anything and give them away when you can’. ‘Don’t gossip, once a word is spoken it cannot be taken back.’ I love that quality in other women too, even when life is tough they can find enjoyment in it. They see the positive things. I hope that the things I say or do will not hurt but help somebody.”

“One of the values I have is that family is important. I am very proud of mine. We often make excuses to gather together for ‘big nights’ with chat and singing and some storytelling. Our children know all their cousins, aunts and uncles. Nights like that give a bit of heart to people.”

“I would say to younger women, look into your heart and see what is important to you. Take a pen and write and don’t lift your pen off the page then choose the important things that have come out. And say to yourself, ‘I can do this!’ It doesn’t have to be perfect, it does not have to please anybody else. ‘I can do this for me.’”

“I can’t imagine life without painting. When I stand at the easel, I forget about everything. It’s magical! Sometimes I look at something I did and say, ‘Did I really do that, did I write that?’ I am happy when I am creating. Reading is my other resource.”

“When we lived in California we did a lot of hiking in Yosemite which is just incredibly beautiful. I have warm happy memories of that, the two of us and that wide wonderful space. Dunree, my grandparents’ birthplace, is also a happy place for me, I spent holidays there when I was young. At this time in my life I enjoy chatting or singing with Tom. He plays guitar and has a lovely voice so we sing together. The first time we met at a party we sang together and have always enjoyed that.”

You can contact Madeline here for information on her storytelling.

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Sheila Fairon