President’s words of appreciation for Sligo artist Shane
PRESIDENT Michael D Higgins had penned a letter of encouragement to Sligo born artist, Shane Gillen.
A couple of weeks ago, Shane decided to pick back up the pencil and try his hand at portrait drawing, for the first time since exceeding at art in school. He has since sketched a range of public figures including the President and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
Last week, Shane, who hails from Tonaphubble, received a letter from President Higgins who told the artist he was most impressed to learn of his work and in particular how his creativity had come to the fore at this difficult time.
“I am grateful to citizens like you who use your talen and skills to bring light and joy into the lives of others as we undertake together this unprecedented journey. I send you my warmest regards and look forward to seeing more of your innovative work,” wrote President Higgins.
Shane described the letter as beautiful and thanked everyone for the huge response to his drawings.
“I am so extremely humbled and unbelievably grateful,” he said. The family of late broadcasting legends Gay Byrne and Marian Finucane have also been moved by portraits drawn of them by Shane. After uploading timelapse videos of his works online, he was contacted by Gay Byrne’s daughter Crona and Marian Finucane’s son Jack.
Jack told him that it moved him deeply and the family shared some tears over it, while Crona said that the portrait brought her father Gay back to life at a very important time for her and her sister Suzy and mother Kathleen.
Dublin based Shane, who is director of creative management and talent agency Big and Bright, said that he rarely has time to work on artwork regularly, so coronavirus lockdown is the perfect opportunity for him to rekindle his love of art. The 32 year old said that people are championing thriving during the pandemic - doing something new or turning a hobby into a business.
“I knew I could draw but I hadn’t gotten around to it. We’re all sat at home so I just decided to pick up the pencil again. Life kind of gets in the way and I would have doodled but not too much so about two years ago I just decided that I’d try some portraits.
“Drawing has always been a hobby of mine, but with a busy schedule I’ve not had much time to focus on it. I thought what better time than isolation to get back to it, and maybe give people something other to focus on rather than the consistent horrible news. I really enjoy drawing them, and I film them as I draw, usually holding my phone in my left hand and draw with my right,” he said.
“I plan on creating a series of them all based around various Irish figureheads. Each of the drawings takes me about six to 10 hours straight through. I use a pencil to draw the guide drawing and then layer that with an ink pen. That’s all I use. I’ ll find an image of who I want to draw and copy it from my computer screen.
“I’m currently planning on doing one a day until the lockdown lifts. I am the so I’ ll likely have a little less time to focus on it when things get up and running again.”