May Courtney O'Neill - West Australian Artist

May O’Neill (nee Courtney) was born at Salford in Manchester in the United Kingdom on the 20th of July 1931. Her mother left when May was eight years old and she was brought up by her father John Joseph Courtney, who could speak five languages fluently and worked for the British and Continental Steamship Company. She grew up in Old Trafford playing in the bomb craters of WWII, left school at 14 years old to work in administration, married in 1952 and then emigrated to Australia in 1963 with her husband Roland and two children. Her artistic journey started in 1973 after being badly injured in a car accident that left her bedridden for eight weeks. To alleviate boredom, she took up painting after being unable to continue with her sporting interests. Largely self-taught and mainly working in watercolours, she has been influenced by Hungarian watercolourist Zoltan Szabo. She has won the Whitford Art Group watercolour award three times and has been recognised for her work by the City of Wanneroo, City of Mandurah and the Rockingham Arts Council. She was a Foundation member and Past President of the Whitford Art Group, and Foundation member of the Wanneroo Art Society, Watercolour Society of Western Australia and the Carnarvon Art Society and past member of the Perth Art Society. She has exhibited widely and her work is held in many private collections, including three watercolours in the Fairview Art Collection in Subiaco, Perth.