AN IRISH woman spending lockdown alone has come up with a creative way to pass the time.
A qualified personal stylist and image consultant, Martha Gilheaney from Leitrim was laid off from her full-time job as an English teacher in Dublin just before lockdown began.
Separated from friends and family, Gilheaney refused to get downhearted about her situation, opting instead to put her artistic talents to entertaining use by recreating some of the world’s most famous works of art.
Her efforts have not gone unnoticed either with Gilheaney’s Instagram and Facebook pages, both titled Martha’s Looking Glass, attracting plenty of attention thanks to her artistic endeavours.
So far, Gilheaney has recreated a string of iconic paintings from the comfort of her cosy Dublin apartment and with the help of a few carefully chosen wardrobe items and improvised props.
Highlights so far have included Vermeer’s The Girl with the Pearl Earring, American Gothic by Grant Wood and, our personal favourite, Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper.
Shot on an Android phone using a self-timer, Gilheaney’s work is made all the more impressive for the fact it is rarely, if ever, altered using PhotoShop.
Yet it’s the online reaction to her work that proven most pleasing to the Leitrim native who has inundated with messages praising her work.
Ever better still, it’s provided her with some much-appreciated conversation and human contact.
“I quickly realised it was making other people happy, and it was starting a conversation between me and my followers and it just felt like company for me,” Gilheany told the Irish Mirror.
“My pictures have never gotten more likes and I’ve never gotten more messages.
“I’ve had people say ‘Oh I’ve waited for these all day’.”
If you want to get involved in the conversation and check out some of Martha’s other masterworks, just search for @marthaslookingglass on Instagram or Facebook.
