Local Limerick artist up for Aussie art competition with his 'Portrait of Steve'

FORMER Limerick resident Thomas Delohery is brewing up a storm down under with his Portrait of Steve Wall from The Stunning.

Artist Thomas Delohery, a previous resident of the Ennis Road, was named as one of the finalists for the Hornsby Art Prize in New South Wales, with one of his ‘Portraits of Steve’.

Thomas spoke on reaching out to Steve, the muse of his portrait series, saying “I moved to Australia in 2010, and sometime after settling there, I reached out to Steve Wall through social media to see if he might sit for a portrait the next time I was back in Ireland.

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“We arranged to meet during one of my visits home. However, at the last minute, Steve was called to Amsterdam to take the lead role in ‘My Foolish Heart’. I was gutted but Steve was gracious and assured me we'd make it happen down the line,” explained Thomas.

A few years passed and Thomas ran into a few more roadblocks in his attempt to get the perfect portrait. The time was finally right, however as Thomas said, “Two years ago, while visiting my family in Ireland I reached out again - just before leaving. As luck would have it, Steve was in Ennistymon visiting his dad.

“We met up, and he generously gave me his time. I did a drawing, we took reference photographs, and Steve showed me around his hometown.”

Once back in Australia, Thomas worked on his series of ‘Portraits of Steve’. Describing the series, Thomas explained, “The first were in monochrome, but the second-last one - which became my personal favourite - depicted Steve sitting in a café in Ennistymon.”

The competition was established in 2009 and the winner will receive $10,000 AUS.