What I'm about
I'm Lucy O'Donovan, a passionate figurative artist who has exhibited throughout the world.
My work is driven by my fascination with the human body and the feelings that this subject invokes.
For me it's vital to portray the body in as honest a way as I can, irrespective of whether it be considered classically beautiful or not.
I've explored art therapy as both a patient and also a teacher.
I had a severe traumatic head injury in 2008 while I was working in Melbourne. It had a pretty dramatic effect on all aspects of my life, and I've been in recovery ever since then. If you're interested in this, then feel free to look at my Instagram page i_had_tbi_2008. Here I talk about what happened and how I faced the changes as a result of my injury.
Part of rehabilitation from my brain injury involved art therapy. This helped me to begin painting again, but the process of it also made me feel more positive and more "myself" again. Here are a few of the marks I made on paper and also my first painting after my injury.
If you would like to view my CV and an interview that my representing New York Agora Gallery published about me then you're welcome to download them by pressing these buttons!
Interview by Vets : Stay, Go, Diversify Facebook page
Where I talked to Ebony about my career and where my painting happened alongside. I also mention the online forum that I have started with my friend Jo. On this forum, doctors, vets and dentists use creativity in their spare time to relax and for inspiration www.crxeate.com
My inspiration
I met Jane MacKenzie when working in my lab for my PhD. She was a little my senior in both age and position - in fact we kept our friendship quiet in the department until we left!
We both drank, we both loved to talk, we were both down to earth and said things how they were. I remember when she was round at my flat and we were doing the usual - drinking wine, smoking, talking late into the night and early morning, talking. I told her how I'd started painting in oils after work and didn't think it was any good but I was enjoying the process. She asked to see the canvas and I handed her a half completed one of my hands. She looked at it saying nothing for what seemed like a long time.
"I like it. A lot" she said. She asked me what I do with my finished work and I told her how I put them into my cupboard and start another one. I'll never forget her reply. "So you paint pictures and put them all in a cupboard and nobody sees them?!" She then asked me why I didn't get them out and allow people to see? It felt like a challenge which made me take photos and put my work on an artist's website. An Italian curator wrote to me through that website and I took part in my first exhibition.
Jane recently died, long before her time. I'm grieving and will do I think for a very long time. She was the closest friend I've ever had and she understood me like no other.