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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.
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.
Here, I talked to Ebony from the Vets: Stay, Go Diversify Facebook page about how my drive to paint integrated into my career. I also mention the online forum 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
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