5 days ago
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- Daily Record
Airdrie artist wowed Ozzy Osbourne with portrait less than two weeks before music legend passed away
Ozzy was a "hero" to David McDonagh, who runs his own business, Lewy L. Paintings, and works on comic book art portraits and pop art.
An Airdrie artist wowed legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne with his portrait of the Black Sabbath frontman less than two weeks before the icon passed away.
The music world was stunned yesterday with the news Ozzy died at the age of 76 surrounded by his loving family.
Ozzy was a "hero" to David McDonagh, who runs his own business, Lewy L. Paintings, and works on comic book art portraits and pop art.
David finally got to meet the heavy metal star in the singer's home town of Birmingham on July 12 - and was thrilled by his response to his colourful artwork.
David told Lanarkshire Live: "I met Ozzy in Birmingham a week after his Back to the Beginning farewell gig.
"After years and years of trying to meet him, I finally got the chance to shake the hand of one of my heroes and show him my artwork.
"When he saw the painting, he responded, 'that's nice that, I like it', which blew my mind.
"I also got to meet Sharon, Jack and Kelly [Osbourne] and they were such a friendly bunch.
"It took me a week to come down from the meeting and then the heartbreaking news came in yesterday about Ozzy passing away.
"I cannot believe he is gone, it's so sad.
"He was a music legend and an icon to so many. I will never forget meeting Ozzy."
David added: "I called my first bulldog Ozzy as we got him when The Osbournes TV was on.
"When I met Jack I gave him some artwork of Lola the bulldog from the show and he was really chuffed."
David has shared special moments with many famous faces from the worlds of film, music, football and wrestling, including Andy Serkis, Robert Carlyle, The Undertaker, Ally McCoist, Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown, Meat Loaf and Liam Gallagher.
He said: 'Working as an artist is my dream job; that's what I wanted to be when I was at school but got it knocked out of me when I was told it wasn't a 'real job'.
'But I've proved that it is a real job and the timing was just right to become a full-time artist as I was juggling a full-time job with painting at night.
'I decided it was getting too much and handed my notice in and just went for it, with great support from fellow artists.'
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