Limerick influencer, tattoo artist shares how the loss of pregnancy inspired her art career

“Lola passed at 20 weeks, and I decided from that moment on that I wasn’t going to do anything that didn’t serve me anymore. I just wanted to do what I want, follow my dreams and chase my passion”.

Lucy Fitzgibbon’s journey has taken her from a teenager making online tutorials in her bedroom to becoming a successful adult who sees art in all forms.

Lucy has made it her home in Barcelona for two years and is now exploring a different form of art. She’s a tattoo artist.

For her first ‘Irish’ job in her beloved Treaty County, Askeaton-reared Lucy is home for only a few days and she arrives at Beauty HQ on Little Ellen Street with her tattoo gun, book of stencils and bubbly personality.

Lucy reminisces about stories and experiences she has had since moving to mainland Europe. I am able to see my arm and smile as she prepares for me to be tattooed.

She starts from the beginning with one stroke, two strokes and then the purr.

Lucy was a young girl who posted about her life on Facebook for years. As a result, she felt the public’s sting and decided to seek a new perspective on life. So, she moved to Spain.

“I was obsessed with the art and architecture, and I needed a change,” she says.

In order to find herself, and explore herself as a person, Lucy admits, “it was the best decision I ever made. I have found myself in Barcelona.”

Lucy was able to refocus in a different area than the Mid-West of Ireland.

For company, she got Bruno, a small dog, and found Dylan a partner. She then became pregnant in 2022.

However, as she put it herself, “from the highest highs to the lowest lows,” her lovely Lola, her “miracle baby” passed away, unborn, at only 20 weeks.

At that moment, the 22-year old began a new chapter in life. One without her precious daughter, one she would have the responsibility to manage for the rest.

Reactions are always an interesting part of life, and explaining people’s reactions to miscarriage, Lucy says, “I feel like when you have a baby loss before the full term, you’re given a space to grieve but it’s not for very long, because it ‘wasn’t a baby’,” she explains. “But from still going through it, I don’t think that that is the approach people should have”.

She pauses, and with one sharp inhale of breath she states, “losing Lola was the hardest thing I have ever gone through in my life.”

She has made it public to share her journey.

“For 20 whole weeks I had an image in my head of what my life was going to look like,” she asserts.

“My whole entire life until I died I was going to have a daughter, and then it was just gone and taken from me”.

In a brief word of advice to any parent experiencing a situation akin to hers, she says, “don’t feel like you should be ‘getting over it’ faster because you’ll never, ever, ever get over it. You should always have a space to grieve your unborn child.”

Lola died November 15, 2022. Lucy gave birth after 31 hours of labor in Barcelona.

“It’s weird,” she says, “but I wish I could relive that moment.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the process of being in labour and it was so heartbreaking because at the end it was all just gone.”

It was an unforgettable experience for the social media star to be able to meet and hold her daughter.

“Her due date is in a month, I should be eight months pregnant right now and I am not and I just miss having her even in my belly.”

With a lump in her throat she repeats, “I really, really miss her.”

Lucy is currently building her website to show her artwork, three months after she lost Lola. After the website is live, she reveals that she will launch a 20-piece original art collection. Using her art as a form of expression, she agrees that her influences are “what I’m going through in life.”

She is optimistic about the future and says that she looks forward to it.

“2023 is the year for Lucy Fitz, artist,” she exclaims. “I want to travel, be a full-time artist, and surround myself with people I love. My little family in Barcelona, Dylan and Bruno – and Lola, they are my world”.

She reiterates her new mantra, which reminds her, to “not take any negativity, and live life for me.”

Lucy has turned her grief and sadness from a difficult experience with her first baby, a miscarriage, into a passion that she continues to share with her unborn child through her creations.

“After Lola, I didn’t want to waste time doing things I didn’t want to do, or not being completely satisfied in my life. Art has always been a constant, and my goal is to use my art and my experience with child loss to help other grieving parents.”

Lucy is now ready and able to tackle the world. She finishes the last details of her art before placing a delicately shaped rose on the reporter’s arm. This is a sign of growth and a new chapter.