www.okeefe-arts.com is an official website of John O'Keefe



1970's
The Early Years (Art during early childhood and Elementary School)


MY EARLIEST ARTWORKS

These first drawings are the earliest pieces of my artwork that still exist. The first is a painting of our parakeet Henry. My mother purchased him after her separation from my father in 1974 when I was 4 years old. Henry was a good bird and he lived with us for many years. I'm sure it was because of Henry that my art initially centered around birds. I loved to draw birds.


John O'Keefe's earliest surviving painting of his pet parakeet Henry, created when he was six years old
Acrylic - 'Henry'
1976 (6 Years Old)



A LOVE OF DRAWING BIRDS


John O'Keefe's early crayon drawing of a barn swallow, created when he was seven years old
Crayon
1978 (7 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early crayon drawing of a parrot and a bird, created when he was seven years old
Crayon
1978 (7 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early colored pencil drawing of a cardinal, created when he was seven years old
Colored Pencil
1978 (7 Years Old)

I can still remember drawing this cardinal. It was winter and I saw this little fellow while looking through our dining room window. He was walking on the roof of a bird house that was hanging in the backyard and then he flew away. I went and got my colored pencils and paper and drew this picture.



VISITING THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

After the divorce of my parents things changed drastically at home. Naturally my parents were adjusting to the change, but my younger brother and I were the ones who were hit the hardest. One thing that helped us get through those years were the summer vacations to our grandparents home in Astoria in Queens, New York. My mother would send us there for about 4 to 6 weeks during our school summer vacation. We began making those trips soon after the divorce and they continued until my brother and I were both in our teens. Looking back, those summers in New York City were a wonderful and peaceful time in my life. Today, when the stress of life starts creeping up on me, I sit back and remember those visits.

It was during those visits that my grandparents or my Aunt Annie would take my brother and I into Manhattan to visit the Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These next drawings are from one of the trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Aunt Annie. I remember on this occasion how we took our time going through the bird exhibits so that I would have time to draw these pictures.


John O'Keefe's early colored pencil drawing of a bird, created when he was seven years old
Colored Pencil
1977 (7 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early colored pencil drawing of an owl, created when he was seven years old
Colored Pencil
1977 (7 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early colored pencil drawing of ducks in a pond, created when he was seven years old
Colored Pencil
1977 (7 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early colored pencil drawing of duck, created when he was seven years old
Colored Pencil
1977 (7 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early pencil drawing of an owl, created when he was seven years old
Pencil
1977 (7 Years Old)


John O'Keefe posing with a drawing outside of the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, New York, when he was seven years old
Here I am outside the museum.
Aunt Annie took these pictures.


DRAWING PEOPLE

Although I loved to draw birds, I did draw other things too. Below are some portraits. The first portrait is of my grandfather, the second is a family friend named Teddy, and the third is a picture of Vincent Price that I copied from the cover of a TV Guide.


John O'Keefe's early pencil drawing of his grandfather, created when he was seven years old
Pencil - 'Grandpa'
1977 (7 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early pencil drawing of a family friend named Teddy, created when he was seven or eight years old
Pencil - 'Teddy'
1977-78 (7-8 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early pencil drawing of Vincent Price, created when he was seven or eight years old
Pencil - 'Vincent Price'
1977-78 (7-8 Years Old)

I can remember my dad's reaction when he saw this portrait of Vincent Price. He could not believe that I drew it. He made copies so that he could show them to his friends. I felt very good inside after seeing how proud he was of me.



MY LOVE OF DRAWING BIRDS CONTINUES

Here are some more birds. I was getting better at drawing in the details, which can be seen in the feathers of these next images.


John O'Keefe's early pencil drawing of a Canary signed to his mother, created when he was eight years old
Pencil
1978 (8 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early pencil drawing of Canary, created when he was eight years old
Pencil
1978 (8 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early pencil drawing of two woodpeckers, created when he was eight or nine years old
Pencil
1978-79 (8-9 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early pencil drawing of a parakeet, created when he was eight or nine years old
Pencil
1978-79 (8-9 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early pencil drawing of a macaw, created when he was nine years old
Pencil
1979 (9 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early pencil drawing of a blue-jay, created when he was nine years old
Pencil
1979 (9 Years Old)



PRIVATE ART LESSONS

My parents soon realized that I had a natural artistic ability. They signed me up for private art lessons with a local artist named Kathy Singer. Kathy introduced me to landscapes, watercolors, and hand-made crafts using papier-mache. We usually met at her home for the lessons but she also took us on field trips. I remember one such trip to a farm that had an old barn. I have several drawings from that trip but they are badly faded and I could not produce quality scans for this webpage. Kathy Singer was a good art teacher, and I enjoyed her lessons.


John O'Keefe's early watercolor of an apple, created when he was nine or ten years old
Watercolor
1979-80 (9-10 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early watercolor of a light house, created when he was nine or ten years old
Watercolor
1979-80 (9-10 Years Old)


John O'Keefe's early watercolor of a fowl, created when he was nine or ten years old
Watercolor
1979-80 (9-10 Years Old)



PAINTING IN QUEENS, NEW YORK

My Aunt Annie loved to watch me draw. Here is a painting that I did at her apartment in Queens, New York. This was my first painting of a landscape using acrylics. It was around this time in my life that I also began to take an interest in sailing ships.


John O'Keefe's first acrylic landscape painting, created when he was ten years old
Acrylic
1980 (10 Years Old)


My Aunt Annie and her husband (Uncle Joe) used to paint together and they painted maritime and landscape scenes. Uncle Joe, who died when I was very young, loved to paint and build model ships. I remember sitting in their living room and staring at a model ship of the 'Cutty Sark' that Uncle Joe built. It was awesome! I eventually inherited that model but it was severely damaged during the journey from New York to Connecticut. I could not fix it and sadly it one day went into the garbage. However, my mother and I have all of the original paintings they created together. Aunt Annie and Uncle Joe were definitely an inspiration to me.



PAIER COLLEGE OF ART

One day a week I was allowed to leave school early and attend special art classes at the 'Paier College of Art' in New Haven, Connecticut. This was great because none of the other kids got to do that! I don't have any of those art projects, but they were all hands on. There was a lot of sculpting and building using different materials and mediums. The skills I learned opened up new ways for me to express myself through art. Creating images on paper was no longer my limit. Below is a castle that I starting building out of cardboard shortly after my experiences at 'Paier'.


John O'Keefe's castle made from cardboard, created when he was ten or eleven years old

John O'Keefe's castle made from cardboard (another view), created when he was ten or eleven years old
Cardboard
1980-81 (10-11 Years Old)




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