Ex-ceann comhairle aids fundraiser

LIKE CHURCHILL, the former ceann comhairle John O’Donoghue has taken to the paint brush in a period in the political wilderness…

LIKE CHURCHILL, the former ceann comhairle John O’Donoghue has taken to the paint brush in a period in the political wilderness.

An abstract painting of the Skelligs Rock, overlooked by the Kerry TD’s house, has “amazed” art lovers, in its interpretation of the Skellig and clever use of colour, according to Noelle Campbell-Sharpe, director of the Cill Rialaig artists’ centre in Ballinskelligs in south Kerry.

Campbell-Sharpe, who recognised the former ceann comhairle’s keen eye for a painting during his tenure as minister for arts, invited him to submit a painting for the centre’s fundraiser this Easter. “I was amazed. I know he took advice from artists whom he is friendly with, but he did it all himself,” she said.

The colourful acrylic will be anonymously placed among up to 200 paintings, some by established artists such as Mick Mulcahy.

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Other well-known Kerry people have also been asked to contribute, including footballer Paul Galvin and former Kerry manager Paidi Ó Sé.

According to a source close to Mr O’Donoghue, he has become very keen on art in recent times and “has always had a love of plays and poetry and that kind of thing”.

The exhibition opens in the Cill Rialaig Centre, attached to a refurbished famine village on Bolus Head from this weekend.

It was during a low point in his political career, in May 1915, following his resignation from his post as first lord of the admiralty after the Dardenelles disaster, that Sir Winston Churchill took up painting at the age of 40.

Winston and Clementine Churchill had rented a small country house in Surrey where they would spend their weekends. It was there he dabbled in painting in water colours, but he quickly found the rich hues of oils better-suited him.