Pandemic turns tourism worker back to his passion
Taxi driver O’Neil Duckie draws portraits – and attention!
WHEN THE novel coronavirus ravaged Jamaica’s tourism industry in 2020, thousands of workers like JUTA taxi driver O’Neil Duckie saw their incomes slashed.
While the outbreak plunged many into despair, the 47-year-old from Airy Hill in Oracabessa, St Mary, said that the pandemic might have been a blessing in disguise.
With more time on his hands, Duckie was able to focus more on his true passion: art.
A portrait artist, Duckie has produced amazing drawings of local and international celebrities.
On a recent visit to his home, he was busy adding the final touches to a piece done in tribute to the late theatre actor Volier Johnson. It forms part of a tribute collection that focuses on popular personalities who have passed, among them Michael Sharpe, Bunny Wailer, Chadwick Boseman, DMX, Prince, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, and a framed drawing of Khanice Jackson, which is waiting to be picked up as a gift to the family of the 20-year-old who was murdered earlier this year.
“I was moved as a father and I decided to do a tribute. I put it on Facebook and it got good response – hundreds of likes – and my sister put it on Instagram and it got over 12,000 likes,” Duckie told The Gleaner.
“Someone who knows the parents saw it and the parents were interested in getting it as a gift. So I bought a frame and framed it for them. They’re yet to pick it up,” he said.
Excellent drawings of several other well-known personalities done with pencil and charcoal line the walls of a small store that Duckie operates on his property.
Usain Bolt, Stevie Wonder, Steve Harvey, Barack Obama, Chris Rock, Morgan Freeman, Will Smith, Mike Tyson, and football wizard Ronaldhino are among them.
“It’s a passion, something I love. All I want to do is just draw,” Duckie, the younger brother to football coach Donovan Duckie, said.
“The pandemic has definitely given me more time because I was home for awhile. It occupies my time, and when I’m drawing, time passes quickly,” he added.
EARLY DAYS AS ARTIST
As a rooster next door crowed occasionally in the background, Duckie told the story of how he, as a young student at Port Maria Primary School, ended up as the go-to person for all matters art, not just for his fellow students, but teachers as well.
When he was in grade three, he drew “stuff”, so much so that his desk became crowded with students, all agog, with teachers in tow.
Over the years, his mother, and later in life, his wife and others, too, have encouraged him to attend the Edna Manley College, but he just never made the move, he said.
“I was born with it, thanks to God. I was never taught by anyone. It was a talent that was given to me naturally,” the artist said.
Duckie moved away from art for a while, spending seven years at a hotel before transitioning into the transport sector.
But he picked up art again in 2010, displaying his drawings in his mother’s business place and elicited adulation.
Then he went on another hiatus and returned to his passion in 2019 just about when COVID-19 swept on to Jamaica’s shores in March 2020.
As international travel barriers sprang up, hotels and other tourism-dependent businesses closed down or significantly scaled back operations, representing a sizeable chunk of the 135,000 jobs that were haemorrhaged in the early months of the outbreak.
With more time on his hands, Duckie joined an art group called Black Artists Connected, an international caucus of artists.
He has also enlisted with the Facebook network If You’re From St Mary, which has also served as a source of inspiration.
“I did that and shared my work and the response was very amazing again, and I got a lot of encouragement, so I start to take it more seriously and I haven’t stopped drawing up until now, 2021.
“I have a lot of fans on it, and I want to thank the administrators for accepting me,” Duckie said.
And practice has been a journey towards perfection. Duckie acknowledges that his talent has improved over the past year, evidenced in comparative portraits he did of British actor Idris Elba in 2020 and 2021.
“I put them together to compare the growth, and I posted it on Black Artists Connected and I got over 5,000 likes. Tremendous improvement, they say,” said Duckie.
And what of the future?
“Honestly, I’m not looking to be a millionaire from this, but a lot of people, even in the same Facebook group, encourage me to open a gallery, and that is really on my agenda to do because as you can see, I display most of them in the business,” Duckie disclosed.
Until then, Duckie will continue surfing the Internet for photos of famous people to reproduce. In the meantime, his client base is growing.