Little did my grandfather know, as he sat on a deckchair in 1941, that he was kick-starting my urge to draw people with my 2B pencil. Over half a century later, at the age of fifteen, the first photo which I drew was of my grandfather in that deckchair moment. I never actually set out to make it look like him. But when it was drawn, my family were adamant that it definitely resembled him.
Well this got me excited - very excited. A whole new world was opening up and I was filled with a craving to keep on drawing people. I started to share my strong interest with others when, in December 2000, I sent a drawing of the then U.S. president, Bill Clinton, to the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, asking him to present it to the President during his third visit to Ireland. To my utter shock, I received a letter from the Taoiseach soon after, informing me that Clinton had accepted my portrait. With that, I found myself on a roll. I was amazed as I found letters of thanks coming through my letterbox from statesmen, stateswomen and achievers, left, right and centre.
Today, I am trundling along, scribbling away on my sketchpad and fully confident that the 2B pencil is the second-best thing since sliced bread - the best of course being red cheddar cheese....
If you would like me to draw a portrait of your granny, your friend, your pet or your even your good self, feel free to drop me a line at [email protected].
Click on 'Pics' to see what I'm talking about.
Check out my web blog at http://markokeeffeportraits.blogspot.com .
Some feedback:
'I could not believe how outstanding a portrayal of myself that it is. Indeed it is so accurate that it looks like a perfect photograph.' - John Hume
'Quite frankly I am, if I may say so, astonished at the quality of your work. It is excellent.' - Charlie Haughey
'It is a terrific likeness....Great job!' - Al Gore
'It is an excellent likeness - much better than most of the professional pictures that constantly reach me.' - Edmund Hillary
'I will keep the portrait carefully among my treasured momentoes' - Bertie Ahern
'It is an amazing likeness.' - Archbishop Desmond Tutu
'I greatly appreciate your gift - in both senses of that word. Keep going.' - Seamus Heaney
'It is indeed a very fine representation of the character of my late father and one of the very best and finest amateur drawings of my father which I have seen for many, many a year.' - Terry de Valera
'The portrait is being appropriately admired, even by grandchildren, tough critics.' - Noam Chomsky
'The pencil drawing that you did of my father is absolutely wonderful.' - George Bush Senior
'It was very well executed. I did not realise that I had quite so much chin! - but I think that this is a failure of observation on my part, rather than yours.' - Garret FitzGerald
On 7 July 2005, during his visit to the Vatican, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern presented Pope Benedict XVI with a portrait that I drew of him. The Taoiseach sent me this photograph soon after, which I greatly appreciated. Also pictured with the Taoiseach and the Pope is the then Irish Ambassador to the Vatican, Philip McDonagh.
