Harry Feeney was born in Derry City, Northern Ireland on the 27th August 1956. He grew up through the troubles in the North of Ireland and has seen many things a young man should only see as a fiction story on television. Harry decided in the mid seventies that if he didn’t get away, he would end up in jail or dead. Neither of these options appealed to him, so naturally, Harry took a huge risk and set off from Derry’s Strabane Old Road, without informing his family. He stuck his thumb out and took a lift from a passing motorist who was travelling to Dublin.

Over the next few years he drifted through the Republic of Ireland, still unaware of his talent to paint. Many years earlier a teacher considered Harrys’ artistic attempts as an insult to the teacher’s intelligence. Such was the time he lived in that a single comment like that would be enough to stop him from painting.

Taking the teacher at his word, Harry felt the teacher must be right so he stopped and subdued any further thoughts of painting or drawing for over 20 years. These feelings persisted and eventually came to the fore. Harry began to paint and it must be said that with the help of a lesson with Frank Clarke, suddenly pieces of the jigsaw began to slot into place. Harry then started to excel and found a new lease on life and his appetite for painting grew and grew. Books were not enough and after sometime following mistake after mistake he began to realise that he wasn’t making mistakes at all, but he was making discoveries. So like Harry, the word mistake began a new lease on life; both of them became discoveries.

He began painting seriously in 1990 and by 1995 he gave up the day job and began painting for a living which he has continued to do successfully to this day. He does quite a lot of commission work and one man shows annually.

He got an opportunity to do a pilot programme for television in 2006, they liked him and so
the first series was filmed in November 2006. Harry lives with his family near Pontoon in
Mayo. He now enjoys teaching the skills he has developed over the years and if you would
like to give it a go, Harry would be only to happy to help and advise.