AN IRISH TEENAGER is getting some very well-deserved recognition on Sky’s TV show Portrait Artist of the Year.
Just eighteen years old, Hetty Lawlor from Mayo has made it through to the semi-final of the Portrait Artist of the Year competition. And she’s not even finished secondary school yet. She’s taking part in the show while she studies for her Leaving Cert. That’s undeniably quite impressive.
Her father is Jimmy Lawlor, a professional artist based in Westport and her older sister is studying animation. The talent clearly runs in the family.
Hetty has been painting since the age of two and hasn’t stopped since.
She’s very grateful to her parents for the support they’ve given her:
My love of art definitely came from dad and being around his art growing up. I’m grateful to both my mam and dad for supporting me through what was a really intense competition. The other artists were so fantastic so I was genuinely shocked when they announced I was through to the semi-final, but I’m over the moon. It was great to meet and paint David Tennant and Portrait Artist of the Year is a great platform to showcase my work.
Here’s the portrait of David Tennant that got Hetty into the semi-final.
If she manages to win the competition, Hetty will receive an €11,000 commission to paint Kim Cattrall, which will then hang in the permanent collection at The Walker Art Gallery in Kim’s birth city of Liverpool.
In the coming weeks, 30 famous performers will sit for the semi-finalists to paint as they compete for a place in the final. This will include Noel Fielding, Lily Cole, Reggie Yates, Game of Thrones actor Conleth Hill, supermodel Rachel Hunter and many more familiar faces.
