The day Raila flew artist to deliver a pencil drawing

“Meeting him was an honour,” he says. “He was charismatic. Just meeting him was payment enough, even without considering the remuneration. The publicity from that portrait gave my art and business portfolio a powerful boost.”

So far, he has sketched four artworks of Raila, the former Prime Minister who died on Wednesday after a cardiac arrest.

“The first two I did were out of inspiration; he was a lovable human being, a political leader, the way he shaped democracy and the political landscape in Kenya, I felt inspired to do a portrait of him. The others were commissioned by some of his ardent supporters for their own personal collections. I also did another piece that I was asked to personally present to him,” he tells the BDLife.

“I had to travel all the way from Kisumu, and he paid for my flights, my accommodation, and I was remunerated well for my work. But I feel this wasn’t necessary, for I had considered it as a gift; everything else that happened after was more or less like a bonus.”

The visual artist has been drawing and painting since childhood, but it was only in 2012 that he went professional. He is mostly known for pencil and charcoal drawings, but sometimes dabbles with oil paintings.

He never studied art.

“I did a Bachelor of Commerce Banking and Finance and Accounting at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Science, but I have always had a passion for art ever since I was a child. After graduation, I embarked on it as a hobby,” he says, “when a few admirers started paying me for my work, I realised this could be a business.”

He has always been fascinated by the process of rendering human figures into portraits and paintings.

“When I started posting my artworks on social media, I noticed that portraits of famous personalities consistently went viral,” he says.

“I’m good at experimenting with faces, and that’s how my talent has evolved. While I don’t major exclusively in portraits, these were the pieces that went viral, so I decided to use them as a marketing tool. For example, in 2014, I did popular portraits of Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto, and Raila Odinga.”

“Kenya has lost a great leader. Filling his shoes is going to be a tall order. I don’t think we will be able to get such a leader who is selfless and whose impact cuts across Africa and even globally,” he adds.

He says the artworks of famous personalities are usually delivered to them either personally or through their aides.

“95 percent of my artworks, I have been contacted by the subjects themselves for deliveries and presentations. I have been lucky that some of my commissioned works have been ordered by the said people or even organisations wanting to gift them,” he says.

In Kenya’s art scene, Kisumu rarely gets the recognition it deserves, and the 35-year-old says his next path points toward a solo exhibition that will be held either in Nairobi or Kisumu.

“I am still finding my footing in my forte, which is between charcoal drawings and oil paintings,” he says.

His inspiration? “As a self-taught artist, I believe that every artist I come across inspires me. I don’t have specific people that I look up to, anyone that has an inclination to the craft, be it someone that is coming up or even small children, they are all a source of motivation to draw and to paint. I am inspired by other people even other genres of art.

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