Portrait Of The Artist By A Young Woman

The Mini Theatre 17APR16

t’s a tricky one, the old painted portrait…

Get it right, and you have a timeless record of a person, a moment, a spirit. Get it wrong, and it looks like the poor bugger is having a stroke.

Luckily, when I swung down to Mary-Kate Hardy to talk about her two-week live exhibition at Greystones’ Mini Theatre, I was immediately struck at how real her portraits looked.

Of course, it helps when you’re painting someone you love, two of Mary-Kate’s fine works being of her boyfriend, a shy, sensitive musician who would rather remain nameless. Instead, we’ll let the work itself do all the talking, with Mary-Kate’s paintings ranging from famous local landmarks (such as The La Touche Hotel), favourite spots, and favourite, everyday people.

And the beautiful thing is, Mary-Kate is going to be present for much of her two-week run in The Mini Theatre, the plan being for the young artist to complete a painting a day over the coming fortnight. There everyday for the coming week (from April 18th to the 24th) from 10am to 5pm, and there at the same times the following week on both Monday and Tuesday and Saturday and Sunday, aspiring young artists, lovers of portrait work and the plain ol’ nosey are welcome to swing by and find out more from Mary-Kate herself.

Having established herself as a mural artist supreme, with her Fenestrations sideline, you can check out Mary-Kate Hardy’s work on her Facebook page here, or you can email her on mkhardy47@gmail.com for further details.