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Local Artist Neil Cramond inspired by Rose Reilly donates portrait to Sports Centre .
Having watched the t . v . documentary in late 2019 about local legend Rose Reilly which fully explained her struggle to follow her dreams and passion and to break down any obstacles in your way , it resonated with my own experience .
As a child I was always the kid in class that had a talent for drawing , I spent hours with a pencil and my sketchbook just copying things that interested me . Throughout secondary school all my teachers said I was destined for Glasgow School of Art until I clashed with my art teacher at Higher level and did not pick up a pencil or brush for several years and turned to a career in sales and account management for twelve years before changing to becoming an HGV driver , but there was always that niggle that I hadn ' t followed my own dreams of developing my artistic side . Because of this experience my wife Elaine and I always encouraged our son to follow his dreams of becoming an actor and watching him develop made up my mind to research what options I had . I found a distance learning course to do a degree in painting which allowed me to continue to work , its not been easy as I have been doing this for five and a half years to complete the first two years of the three year course , but I have found a passion for painting human portraits in oil paint which was a medium I knew nothing about and portraiture was something I couldn ' t do before , but practice has improved .
The re-naming of the Sports Centre to honour Rose ' s achievements made me want to show my appreciation by donating a portrait of Rose to be hung in the newly unveiled Sports Centre . I got in touch with the TV producer of Rose ' s documentary and asked for permission to use some of their images as reference so I would not infringe copyright and presented my idea to East Ayrshire Council who were happy as long as the painting fitted in with their re-branding of the Sports Centre . I
got in touch with local framers Gallery 2 and we collaborated with the council for the colours of the border and the frame after they had seen the painting I completed and approved it as being suitable .
East Ayrshire had planned to do a big ceremony for Rose to unveil the newly re-named Sports Centre in March 2020 , but the Covid pandemic put it on hold . The painting is now hanging up in the Sports Centre as a commemoration to Rose and her achievements and is my way of thanking her for inspiring others and i hope that my story helps everyone to realise that it is never too late to do something with your dreams and passion whatever it may be .