By Rajan Saha, Staff Reporter
Under the cool lights of her basement, freshman Kylee O’Keeffe sits on the couch, hunched over her sketchpad. With her set of Prismacolor pencils, O’Keeffe meticulously draws another pet portrait for a friend.
O’Keeffe started making pet portraits during the COVID-19 pandemic. She began creating commissioned work a year ago when her friends asked her to draw their pets. Now, O’Keefee typically charges $30 to $50 per piece.
A year ago, O’Keeffe had her first customer: her friend, then-eighth grader A.J. Nesbitt, who asked her to draw his late dog as a gift to his mom. Originally, O’Keeffe did not charge Nesbitt, but Nesbitt paid her $5 anyway.
“It was kind of amazing how she did it because all I needed to do (was send) her a reference photo, and she picture-perfect just completely recreated it,” Nesbitt said. “It was insane. It only took her two days.”
O’Keeffe’s parents, Brian and May O’Keeffe, said thatthey let her “do her own thing” when it comes to art. O’Keeffe took drawing and painting summer classes at the Wayne Art Center in sixth grade with her friends and has continued attending classes since. Currently, she takes Studio Art 1 at Conestoga.
“I think the classes now that she’s taking at Conestoga are giving her a further opportunity to explore different art mediums. It’s something that she’s going to decide herself where it goes (and) whether it’s something that becomes more than a hobby or whether it’s something that she can incorporate into her growth as she progresses into a career,” Brian O’Keeffe said.
Kylee O’Keeffe plans to further market her business on Instagram and Etsy. As of now, she and her parents wish to maintain a balance between her life as a student and an artist.
“Art is her release,” May O’Keeffe said. “It’s her way of just decompressing so she gets all her work done. (She is) very self-motivated (and) self-driven; it’s her love. I look at it as something that she does just out of passion.”
Rajan Saha can be reached at [email protected].
