Jonathan Yeo I REMEMBER...
Reader's Digest UK|March 2024
Jonathan Yeo is one of the world's leading figurative artists. Entirely self-taught, his portrait subjects have included former Prime Minister Tony Blair, American actor Dennis Hopper and members of the Royal Family
Jonathan Yeo I REMEMBER...

MY PARENTS ENCOURAGED ME TO BE CREATIVE. My mum had wanted to pursue music and hadn’t been allowed to by her parents, so I think she gave me more latitude than I would have had otherwise. People look back now as if it was always inevitable that I would go and do the things I did but I needed that early encouragement from my parents.

MY FIRST PORTRAIT SUBJECT WAS MY MUM. My parents kept my art on the walls when I was young, and one was a drawing of my mum in felt tip. It really bothered me at the time because I made a mistake and couldn’t fix it.

I USED TO DRAW MY TEACHERS AT SCHOOL DURING CLASS. I had ADHD, which was diagnosed many years later when I was about 40, and I found it much easier to pay attention to what was going on in class if I was drawing. Some teachers told me off for it but some would allow me to do it, and I would do better in those subjects.

MY GRANDMOTHER HAD A LITTLE LOCAL ART GALLERY IN GREENWICH, and I used to go in to see how the local artists worked in their studios. It was a valuable insight into how people were actually doing it.

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