David Sweeney jokes that his mother is still his best patron when it comes to commissioning works of art.
The former Dublin hurler has a day job working in Croke Park, but his passion is painting.
Around the time his inter-county days were wrapping up - he retired first time around in 2007 and came back for one year in 2009 under Anthony Daly - he knew that he’d need a new direction to channel his energies.
He drew in school and his father was a keen painter. Sweeney is largely self-taught after a few classes when he got serious about it first, using books and online videos to learn and improve.
"I knew there was a void that I needed to fill," explained the 42-year-old, who works in e-learning with the GAA.
"It gives me time and space for myself, it gives me a sense of achievement, something to aspire to.
"It’s something that’s always evolving and you’re never totally happy with what you’ve done - I think most artists will tell you that. They’re their own worst critic and they’re always trying to change something or do their next project better than the last.
"There’s no end to it and it’s something I can do as long as I’m able to stand, or I could always sit!
"It’s something I want to do with the kids - I have an easel there for them and it’s something we can do together. It’s a lot better than watching YouTube or playing games on the phones. It’s something I hope to pass on to the kids."
Having three young children with his wife Sandra - Callan (4), Mae (3) and Ruben (six months) - doesn’t make it easy to find time to paint - or for anything, for that matter.
Sweeney started out using oil paints and dabbled with acrylics, though they dried too quickly for his liking, so he stuck with oils for painting and charcoal for drawing. He mostly paints portraits and cityscapes now, having initially been drawn to wildlife.
The Ballyboden St Enda’s man knows that it’s unlikely he’ll ever hit the jackpot and sell paintings for big money but he’s content with this.
It’s a stoicism that was partially forged by playing for Dublin in the bad old days. He was first brought into a Dubs panel by the legendary Jimmy Grey back in 1996. He gave ’97 a miss to play rugby and was back for ’98.
He earned his first Championship start that year against Kilkenny, which was also DJ Carey’s comeback match following his own brief first retirement.
"It seems so long ago now!" he smiles. "Strangely enough we were favourites going in to play Kilkenny in Parnell Park and we all know what happened after that… We got our arses handed to us."
It ended in a 0-14 to 4-23 defeat and set the tone for a largely frustrating decade in blue. He quit in ’07 only to be persuaded to come back by Daly for one year in ’09, enjoying a late-in-the-day crescendo that included being part of ‘Boden’s five in-a-row of Dublin titles between ’07 and ’11.
Largest one I've done 1m x .75m #oilpainting #cityscape #irishart #dublin #oconnellstreetdublin #dublinspire pic.twitter.com/Ih5i9Dp0If
— David Sweeney (@davidsweeneyart) December 15, 2018
"We got to the Leinster final in 2009, we beat Wexford for my first time in the Leinster Championship, and we were then beaten by Limerick in the All-Ireland quarter-final, my last game for Dublin," said Sweeney.
"It was a long time, but I was so happy to have been able to get that last stint under Daly because he was just something completely different, something I’d never experienced before.
"I’d love to have been able to play on. Anthony Daly came in in 2009 and went on until 2014. He changed the whole landscape and I would love to have been involved in that.
"I don’t really have any regrets in my own career; it would have been nice to win a National League or a Leinster, but I’m content enough with what I did."
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