Painter, artist in ceramics and teacher, born in London, where he worked for much of his life. He attended Camberwell College of Art, 1968–9, Falmouth School of Art, 1969–72, then Birmingham School of Art, 1972–3. Among his awards was First Prize, Sir Whitworth Wallace Trust, Birmingham, 1973, and an Arts Council Award in 1978. After a fellowship at Gloucestershire College of Art, 1973–4, O’Donnell gained a Japanese Government Scholarship to Kyoto University of Arts, 1974–6. From the mid-1970s he taught extensively at colleges and universities in Falmouth, Birmingham, Reading, Bath, Wimbledon, Croydon and Brighton. In 1979 he gained an installation commission for Bognor Regis Arts Centre. As a painter O’Donnell was greatly influenced by what he saw in Japan, other influences being Bulgarian icons, the introduction of wooden frames as an active part of the image, the sea and its light.