Hey there everybody I'm Lucy O'Donovan a who's painted throughout my life!

Painting is my passion
Keeps me awake at night
Creeps into my head during the day

I paint people.
I paint flesh.
I paint bodies.

How did it all start? When I went on my summer holidays to Pembrokeshire as a little girl. Our family met another family whose mum is Brenda Perkins, a painter. She and my mum introduced me to drawing and watercolour painting. I painted animals I saw and landscape in Wales.

Hey there everybody I'm Lucy O'Donovan a who's painted throughout my life!

Painting is my passion
Keeps me awake at night
Creeps into my head during the day

I paint people. I paint flesh. I paint bodies.

Fast forward to when I left my vet job in '99 I spent some aimless time in Glasgow trying to decide what to do next. I found a greetings card of Tiffany stained glass and started to copy it. Every day I'd fill in a few sections - it was therapeutic and rewarding.

But as time went on I got bored and signed it unfinished.

Started my PhD, but the results of my experiments were black or white, either positive or negative and I longed for the grey outcomes! So I opened the starter pack of oil and started exploring. That started my passion for oil paint that continues to this day.

After work at night I used to pour a glass of wine and painted my hands. After that I worked my way through more canvases and that started my driving obsession!

One night, my friend Jane came round for the usual - chatting, drinking, smoking. She asked to see the canvas and looked at it saying nothing for what seemed like a long time.

"I like it. A lot" she said.

I told her how I finish them, put them in my cupboard and start another. I'll never forget her reply. 'So nobody sees them? Why don't you let people see them?' I took that as a challenge.

So I put my work on an artist website. An Italian curator wrote to me, asking whether I'd take part in a future exhibition in Italy.

One day I was contacted by a Gallery New York suggesting I take part in an exhibition with them. They then represented me for several years.

Hey there everybody I'm Lucy O'Donovan a who's painted throughout my life! Painting is my passion Keeps me awake at night Creeps into my head during the day I paint people. I paint flesh. I paint bodies.

Hey there everybody I'm Lucy O'Donovan a who's painted throughout my life! Painting is my passion Keeps me awake at night Creeps into my head during the day I paint people. I paint flesh. I paint bodies.

One night, my friend Jane came round for the usual - chatting, drinking, smoking. She asked to see the canvas and looked at it saying nothing for what seemed like a long time. "I like it. A lot" she said.

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So I put my work on an artist website. An Italian curator wrote to me, asking whether I'd take part in a future exhibition in Italy. One day I was contacted by a Gallery New York suggesting I take part in an exhibition with them. They then represented me for several years.

Hey there everybody I'm Lucy O'Donovan a who's painted throughout my life!

Painting is my passion
Keeps me awake at night
Creeps into my head during the day

I paint people.
I paint flesh.
I paint bodies.

Hey there everybody I'm Lucy O'Donovan a who's painted throughout my life!

Painting is my passion
Keeps me awake at night
Creeps into my head during the day

I paint people. I paint flesh. I paint bodies.

One night, my friend Jane came round for the usual - chatting, drinking, smoking. She asked to see the canvas and looked at it saying nothing for what seemed like a long time.

"I like it. A lot" she said.

So I put my work on an artist website. An Italian curator wrote to me, asking whether I'd take part in a future exhibition in Italy.

One day I was contacted by a Gallery New York suggesting I take part in an exhibition with them. They then represented me for several years.