Introducing The Artist Formerly Known As Doctor!

I wasn't always an artist. I actually only started about a year ago. My background is science, and nuclear-related at that. With a PhD in chemistry I have the pre-nominal title of doctor but I don't use it in my art world. Here's why.

Artist or scientist? I think it's obvious!

I started my career that led me to become a research scientist in the nuclear industry a long time ago. 32 years ago, in fact! Crikey, am I really that old? During all that time I'd never painted and, to be honest, art wasn't really my thing. And abstract art definitely not. In fact, I recall years ago when my wife dragged me to the Tate Modern in London and I was stunned at what was being passed off as art: a stack of different coloured towels (we had that same artwork in our airing cupboard at home!) and a broken fence panel painted in garish blocks of colour! I'm not joking. This trip did not inspire me to fall in love with art.

This all changed when my wife bought me a set of water colours for Christmas in 2018. As I didn't paint I thought this was a rather odd gift. However, my wife is always looking for new hobby ideas to keep me occupied (or out of trouble!). A year later I start to play with the paint set and painted every day for a month until I'd cracked it. Those 30 days are detailed in my About pages if you want to know more.

As my artwork has taken off so too has my appreciation of just how much thought and work goes into a piece. Yes, even abstract! I now paint many abstract paintings and I can truly say that I get it. My own pieces all have a deeper meaning or intent behind them. They are not, as I once thought, just random splodges of paint on a canvas. There is a lot of thought required to be able to produce something that is balanced and thought-provoking.

Since July 2019 I have been amazingly lucky to have been selling my paintings on a regular basis and can even boast a small community of collectors. I could not have imagined that a year ago. And I love it! I am constantly stunned that I'm able to create artwork that others want, and want enough that they will pay good money for and display in their own homes. When I produce a commission, the look on the face of a happy client is also huge bonus for me and I want to keep repeating it.

So, despite over 30 years in the nuclear industry and holding three degrees and the title doctor I'm more happy to identify as an artist. In fact, when people ask what I do these days, I tell them I'm an artist. I don't mention my day job at all. Would being titled doctor help me sell more art? I doubt it. I think people buy art because they like what they see not because of someone's title. So, I don't tend to use mine. In a nod to the pop legend that was Prince I'm now The Artist Formerly Known As Doctor! TAFKAD! Oh dear, perhaps not!

Getting ahead - preparing for my biggest commission yet

A couple of days ago I received a request for my biggest commission so far and my first 4-figure sum. This was not to be taken lightly and I need to build up to it. It's going to be big!

Getting prepared to practice for the commission

Here you can see that I have one background-prepped canvas on the easel and another two triple-primed on the floor. They might become pieces to sell but that's not their purpose just yet. The commission is going to be big, up to 7 feet long, and painting anything on this scale is going to need some new skills. Maybe s bigger studio too?

First off, the paint needs to stay mobile for longer and not dry out before I've had time to blend it. As paint dries it tends to seize up and stall as one tried to apply it across the canvas. Some magic retarder liquid will be in order.

Then we have the colours. What works on a small scale may not work the same way when going large. Experimentation and practice is needed. Yes, I get the irony - colour blind artist worrying about the colours!

Brushes! I'm definitely going to need a bigger brush! I guess I could go all Sean Scully and use s fence brush!

Finally, I need an idea! As usual, I have no idea what I'm going to do but for something this size I feel I should at least have some kind of plan. If for no other reason than I need to know what paints to have available.

The one thing I do know is that the commission will be an abstract piece which sounds easy but, as I've learned, there really is an art to it (pardon the pun!). The skill is in creating something that invokes a feeling or a mood and isn't just a mess! We shall see if I can pull this off. Stay tuned!

If you'd like to have a chance if winning an abstract painting just sign up for my bimonthly newsletter.

Certificates of Authenticity (proving it's really an Awbery!)

Every day's s school day, or so it seems as I learn about something else I should be doing with my artwork. Certificates of authenticity turn out to be very important. Find out why.

Certificates of Authenticity -really rather important!

Ads my artwork has been selling more and more I've constantly been reflecting and adapting my approach. This has applied to packaging, shipping and the whole customer experience. However, I hadn't realised the importance of providing evidence that my paintings were my works or indeed asserting my rights regarding copyright. This is where a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) comes in and every painting I produce now has one. But why?

A COA proves that my paintings were actually created by me and, in the future, could be important in determining the provenance and relative value of the work should it be sold later on. This is especially important, if I'm lucky enough to become well-known and valued in the art market.

Certificates of Authenticity can actually make artworks easier to sell, especially in auctions or galleries (although I currently choose not to look for gallery representation). Serious art collectors usually require any work they purchase to include a COA in order to prove provenance should they choose to sell the work on or donate it in the future.

So, if you buy any of my paintings from now on you will always receive a Certificate of Authenticity. As my artwork has already been steadily increasing in value as my work sells you may indeed be glad of having something that proves your painting’s provenance and future value.

Besides, the Certificates look nice too!

Abstract may be me!

Yesterday I posted three paintings titled The Elements and put them up for sale. In less than 24 hours they were sold! I then started work on a larger abstract piece and this prompted a request for a commission. I think I may have found my niche!

Going large with abstract!

Creating this piece was a lot of fun and just a little messy. There is definitely something to be said for flinging paint around! My wife had something to say too!

This piece isn't quite finished yet. I think I want to add a bit if geometry to it so who knows what it will look like later today!

I found myself completely immersed in the moment when painting abstracts and could happily spend all day making these. And now, I have a much bigger one to work for a client. That should keep me busy for a bit!

Have a great weekend!

The Elements - New Abstract Collection

I managed to spend an entire day in my studio yesterday and had some abstract fun. The result - three small box canvasses that go together really well. Named by a good friend, the three are titled The Elements with each being Earth, Wind and Fire. Available for sale and will soon be on the website. Contact me if you're interested and get 20% off before they go on the website.

Earth by Roy P Awbery

Fire by Roy P Awbery

Wind by Roy P Awbery

Primed and Ready!

A blank canvas! What will I do with it? So much potential and so much time. I'm having a day off from the day job and having a painting day today. Although my desk easel is starting to look like an abstract artwork in its own right!

A blank canvas primed and ready

So, mindful that I haven't finished any new paintings for a while (building the new website took all my spare time) I've decided today is a painting day. This small box canvas may become one of my free giveaways and may become an abstract piece. I'm not sure yet. I would usually leave it in a town or city to be discovered but, with lockdown, I'll be giving it away to one of my subscribers. Want it? Simply subscribe!

I've also primed another two larger canvasses and I have no idea what they will become. My floral series was hugely popular and I now only have two left so perhaps I'll create a few more. But then, I love the energy that I put into creating the abstracts so maybe I'll have a messy painting day and unleash my inner child! Well why should kids be the only ones to get messy? Of course, my wife may have something to say if she catches me throwing paint all over the place. I really need to find myself a large studio space! Now there's a thought - imagine the huge canvasses I could create then! Hmmm!

Have a great day folks and subscribe if you want a chance to win a free painting.

Setting up online payments

It's taken me several weeks of hard slog but I have finally taken the next step with my artistry website and set up the capability to take payments online.

Taking online payments - the next step

Up until now my website was simply a gallery to be used to view my artwork before one would be redirected to a separate online shop in the form of Etsy. This was fine to begin with but it came with issues.

Etsy on its own is actually a great selling platform. Once you have your products added with all the right keywords you would have access to potential buyers with relatively little effort. After all, millions of prople visit Etsy every day. Of course, it helps if you pay for advertising so that your shop can be highlighted and found! So, if you're just selling direct from an online shop it's fine.

The other issue is cost. Etsy is actually quite expensive when it comes to fees. You pay to add to your stock listings, you pay to advertise and promote and you pay fees and VAT on your sales. On occasion the fees can be as high as 10% in my experience.

But, there is one other major disadvantage with using a separate online shop. Redirection! If your buyers cannot buy direct from your website and you redirect them elsewhere you risk losing the sale, for a variety of reasons.

1. Your buyer may trust you and your site but not the site you redirect them to.

2. Your buyer is not happy entering their personal details into another site.

3. Your buyer may feel obliged to register with the online shop when they don't want to resulting in walking away.

4. Some people don't know or trust Etsy or other online shop.

I received feedback from customers and all of these points were raised at some point. The answer? Take payments online direct from my own website.

I won't lie. It sounded easy but the whole process was a long slog. First, my website had to be upgraded to be able to do commerce and this meant creating individual inventory items complete with lots of details. Then, I had to set up business PayPal and Stripe accounts to enable me to accept payments online. Of course, these accounts then have to be linked to your website which proved to be anything but simple! But, after many hours of plugging away at it I have finally set up my online shop within my own website.

Was it all worth it? It's too soon to know but I'm optimistic as ever.

New lights! How lighting can help with colours

Those of you who follow my blog or my work will know that my unusual angle is my colour blindness. What you may not be so aware of is how light can also affect the colours one sees, whether or not you're colour blind.

I've been painting a wide range of different subjects including night scenes, snowscapes and even cats. When I was reviewing some of previous artwork I noticed that there were differences in the colours that came out, even in similar paintings. This was actually highlighted when I was interviewed on BBC Radio about my artwork: I showed three floral pieces that all had blue skies. Or so I thought. It turned out that all three were noticeably different, but not to me. So what was going on? It was time to investigate.

It turns out that there is a lot of information available on the subject of colour temperature and how it can affect an artist's work. Rather than simply copy and repeat what's already out there, if you're interested in learning more read Dan Scott's informative blog. In summary, it all means that the colours you see depend entirely on the ambient light around you at the time.

So how did I end up painting three different coloured skies? Quite simply, it was the time of day! I painted all three on the same day. However, the first was painted in the morning when it was still dark outside and my studio was illuminated by a tungsten overhead bulb and two LED lamp lights to the side. Both gave off a warm, orange-like colour. The second was painted around midday and, with the curtains open, the north-facing room was bathed in a cool flat light. By the time I painted the final one it was still light outside but significantly dimmer and so my side lights were back on. So you can see, three paintings on the same day with totally different lighting resulted in different skies. So, what's the solution?

I needed to have a consistent light source with the same colour temperature and, ideally, one that represented daylight but also that might be found if my art was displayed anywhere. The solution was daylight bulbs. However, I did a lot of research and almost bought some relatively cheap LED panels from Amazon. Until, I looked at unpaid reviews and comments; cheap LED panel lights are small, not very powerful and not fit for purpose (in terms of art studio lighting). Instead, I found daylight studio lights from Heamar. (My blog is not sponsored so this is just honest commentary). They arrived within a week of ordering, were quick and easy to assemble and appear to be very good qualiry. And they are powerful with their 32W equivalent bulbs. I bought two at a cost of £176. So, did they work? Read on to find out.

Heamar daylight lamp stand

Grammar daylight bulb

I've recently been working on a painting of a cat and to my dismay found out that some green colouring had made its way into the picture. Not good when the cat is meant to be creamy-ginger colour! Under my less-than-ideal lighting I just couldn't see it. Now, with my new daylight lighting setup even I can see something is wrong. To be honest, I can't see the green but I can now see the areas where the colours are not matching. The image below is of the unfinished painting under the new lighting. Clearly, I have some more work to do!

Green cat? Daylight lighting showing the true colours

Finding inspiration from staying in

Here we are heading towards a third week of so-called lock-down due to this dreadful Corona virus. I'm now working from home 100% of my time and go out for an hour a day to walk the dogs for exercise. Of course, this means all my travelling has stopped and so too has the opportunity to see new things from which to draw inspiration for my paintings. Or so I thought.

Springtime inspiration in the garden

The water colour painting above was the result of sitting in my garden watching the birds compete for territory and empty my bird feeders, well, when they could get past the greedy pigeons! I think I'd taken my garden for granted and not really considered it as a source of ideas for my work. Now, forced to stay at home I started to properly look at what was right in front of me. Not just birds but flowers too.

Amazingly vibrant tulip

Colourful inspiration all over the garden

I've also found that my love of abstract art can be inspired and motivated from my garden. Just looking closer at some of the plants and flowers provide for a very different perspective. Take this image of the anthers inside the tulip - totally abstract when the wider context is removed but still a beautiful image. I think this would make a great large acrylic canvas and would make a fantastic addition to someone's home. Assuming they like red!

I'm sure I will find more inspiration in the coming weeks. If you'd like to see what comes next why not subscribe and follow my blog?

Abstract inspiration deep inside a tulip

First BBC radio and now the company magazine!

It's still hard to believe that I've only been painting for little more than a year and successfully selling paintings for half that time. I've now sold around 30 pieces of my artwork and am still amazed that people actually like my work enough to buy them.

It's been quite a year so far with highlights including being featured for almost an hour on BBC Radio Berkshire, having my art displayed at the Award winning gluten free cafe, Nibsy's, in Reading (twice!) and now…making it into my company's in-house magazine!

It really has been incredible and, as the article states, I am truly humbled by the success I’m enjoying. I keep trying to add more interest to my work so have now begun to record YouTube videos of some of my work. I'm also enjoying being challenged by friends to paint different subjects that take me away from my comfort zone (landscapes). I'm still growing as an artist but I love the fact that I feel that I can legitimately self-identity as one!

Of course, none of this would have happened if people, possibly you, didn't enjoy and purchase my works. Thank you!

Featured in my company’s in-house magazine

Colour blind artist in great company!

How does one stand out in a world full of successful artists? Marketing people will say you need to find your USP or unique selling point. Mine? Being profoundly colour blind.

Can you see the number in the image here? No? Then, like me, you're probably colour blind. Colour blindness can come in a variety of forms including red-green (the most common); blue-yellow and monochromatic. Then there is me! My colour blindness appears to be a mixture of a problem with my eyes but also my brain. Rather bizarrely, I don't seem to be able to recognise most colours except really bold primary ones. Mixed colours completely confuse me and I'm unable to even suggest the name of a colour in many cases. However, I do still see in colour but possibly not quite in the way that you do.

There is no cure for colour blindness despite the ridiculous adverts one sees on the internet. The most awful of these are the correction glasses from Enchroma. They show clips of apparently colour blind people being given the gift of perfect sight with a pair of sunglasses. Thankfully science has stepped in to debunk these nonsense colour vision correction glasses.

So can I really be an artist with such a condition? Well, I'd argue that the proof is clear. Having been a selling artist for little more than a year I've sold 30 pieces. Many were commissions and the client knew I was colour blind. It's become my USP.

Of course, there are plenty of artists out there who are colour blind and some notable greats included. It's believed that as Monet developed cataracts his colour vision failed and even Vincent Van Gogh was thought to be afflicted.

If you're interested in Understanding colour blindness a bit more this link will get you started. Of course you can also ask me.

Can't see the number? You're probably colour blind!

A Winter's tale - another commission finished

Today has reminded me why I love painting and why this hobby of mine has stayed with me when so many others have gone. No, it's not because it earns me money! The smile on the clients face when he saw his painting for himself for the first time. He was rather pleased to say the least.

One happy client with his commissioned artwork by Roy P Awbery

A Winter's Tale by Roy P Awbery - close up

This painting was very challenging but I got a great deal of satisfaction from finally getting this one right. The original plan was just to have a night snow scene but, as the painting developed, the client asked for the addition of wolves and an elk.

I managed to capture a sense of movement with the animals which was not easy. I'd not tried to do it before but it seems to have worked.

I'm seriously pleased how well this one turned out and now understand why my followers were not too happy with the very simple Jumble Animals. Lesson learned!

Painting wolves and an Elk!

What the client wants the client gets! My latest commission is a snowscape scene and is one of my favourites to paint. However, the client asked for some wolves and an elk to be added and thus posed quite a challenge, not least because I find it hard to paint animals!

Painting wolves and an elk in the snow

The trick here was to try to convey some dynamic movement rather than simply paint static animals. I tried to achieve this by deliberately not painting the animals in fine detail. Instead, I kept my brush strokes very light and rough.

Gemini over the hunt. Wolves corralling a lone elk under the Gemini constellation.

Guerilla Marketing -a novel way to promote your artwork

I'm giving my paintings away for free! There, I've said it and, as of today, I've done it! But why on earth would I do it?

Simply put, I like painting and I want as many people as possible to see my work and own a piece. Of course, that's not the only reason. I sell my artwork and to be able to keep selling I need to increase my visibility.

One rather unusual way to do this, I think, is to give stuff away for free. Of course, I don't want to just hand my artwork out at random or indeed to people I already know. Instead, I came up with the idea of hiding a painting in plain site in every new town and city that I visit. Today was the first.

So, early this morning I walked around the centre of Vienna, Austria and found myself near to the museum quarter and Parliament. I decided to place my painting on railings at the front of an impressive building with a note attached explaining it was free to whoever found it first.

To my surprise, the painting was picked up less than 5 minutes after leaving it as you can see below. My hope is that the new owner will visit my website, tell their friends about their lucky find and maybe give me a shout out on social media. If not, well, at least they have something they clearly liked!

Free piece of awberyart waiting to be found in Vienna, near to the museum quarter.

First original abstract artwork by Roy P Awbery of AwberyArt discovered in Vienna, Austria

How to label your paintings and artwork

So, after some trial and error, mostly error to be fair, I’ve finally realised how to label my paintings both for display and for sale. It’s actually really simple and all it takes is a little crafting.

First, what not to do:

I’ve now sold my art at a craft fair and on reflection realised that stickers with pricing on them is really not ideal and looks unprofessional. I also had my work displayed earlier in the year and forgot to put any instantly visible details of who I was or how to contact me! More recently though, I saw another artist’s display and they used simple card parcel tags which had the price on one side and the name of the artist on the other. Still far from perfect. However, I then recalled what one sees in galleries and museums: clean, bold labels written in black on a white background with easy-to-read font and all the details anyone could need.

So this how I do it:

1. ( Add your name or business name in bold

2. Add the title of your work and the year (same size font as above but in italics

3. Media type and size (and don’t write “mixed media” - it tells no-one anything meaningful!)

4. Write the price in bold

5. Next I include my contact details in the following order:

   1. website (and I suggest buying a domain - longwinded web addresses just look amateurish)

   2. Contact email address

   3. Social media handle - I used the same, @awberyart, for all of mine and don’t forget to say which platforms you can be found on

   4. Telephone number - especially useful if you are displaying in a public space such as café, library, waiting room etc.

   5. Now set all of this up up in a word document and insert a single line border around it - this makes cutting easier later. Now go and print it out but see below before you do.

   But don’t just print it on paper!

   1. You need to print on good quality thick card that will run through your printer safely. I use WH Smith’s A4 Card which works just fine.

   2. Next, you’ll need some white foam board which I pick up from Hobbycraft.

   3. Now simply glue the cut-out printed label onto the foam board and ut out to create a single 3-dimensional plaque to mount next to your artwork.

Free Paintings - Giving my Art Away

Free Paintings? Really?

No, I really am going to give some of my original and most recent paintings away for free. Why? Well, for a couple of reasons really. The first is that not everyone can afford to own a piece of original artwork or perhaps has even considered wanting to own something. I think art should be easily accessible and not confined to those who are likely to frequent expensive and oftentimes intimidating galleries. Secondly, as a relatively new artist one of the key routes to selling regularly and consistently is to be known. But, without gallery representation how can one become known? There are thousands of artists out there and every one of us needs something that allows us to stand out from the crowd - a unique selling point.

Okay, so you may well buy in to my first point but are now wondering how can the second one possibly work. After all, I’ve just said that artists need to sell. Well, I’ve been trying all the advice on how to manage social media and this has been reasonably successful but I am by no means a viral internet sensation! My efforts on Pinterest have been the most productive having turned a monthly audience of zero into over 30k in just a couple of months and its still rising. Pinterest and Etsy both drive the majority of my non-commissioned sales. But commissions are where the real earnings come from but, as I said before, an artist needs to be known. So how does giving my art away for free do that then?

There must be a catch, right?

There really is no catch. My plan is quite simple. Give some paintings away for free to complete strangers in the hope that they will, in return, visit my website and shop and maybe buy something else in the future. But, more importantly, I’m also going to be asking them to post their find on their own social media so that I get a wider audience potential and certainly an audience that I would otherwise not have had access to.

Here’s how it will work in practice. First, I will produce a series of small (10 x 8 inch canvas) acrylic paintings, mostly abstract in nature. I will sign and date each one but will also add information with the painting that will include my website, social media links and my shop. I will also include a leaflet explaining why I’m giving the painting away and ask for the new owner to highlight their find on their own social media and tag me in. That’s all the payment I need.

Now, in my day job I get to travel a lot, both in the UK and abroad. So, my plan is to deposit a painting in a public location in every new town or city that I visit. The painting will be packaged up with a note on the front explaining that free artwork is inside and I will include a picture of the piece so that people can decide if they want it or not. The package will also have contact details for me so that I don’t end up on the news having caused a security scare! I will also check with the owners/managers of the locations I intend to leave the painting to also prevent any undue concerns.

Where will the free paintings be?

My first trips out will be before the end of January to my home town of Reading and then Newbury in the UK and in early February I will be visiting Vienna, Austria where the third painting will be deposited. In March I will be in Ottawa, Canada so these are going to get quite a global coverage! I’ll keep doing this for a while and see what the response is like and will return to the blog to let you know.

What paintings will be given away?

Each painting that I create for this free giveaway will be posted here in the Free Artwork section of this website.

What do you think? Commercial suicide? Great idea? Do let me know.

How I paint art that sells

I’ve been painting in water colour and acrylic for just one year but have been successfully selling my paintings for at least half of that time. So, how do I do it? There are plenty of websites that tell you how to advertise and promote your work across the social media platforms but these don’t tell you what you need to do with your art to make it appealing in the first place. Unless your paintings are the sort that people want to see every day in their homes they are never going to sell.

My aim when I started painting was to explore and experiment with as many different techniques and subjects as possible and wasn’t even thinking about selling my work. Indeed, it didn’t cross my mind that anyone would even be remotely interested in my work and my early paintings were certainly not of good enough quality to sell.

However, as I continued painting I was also posting my efforts across social media including Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook and even LinkedIn (although I think I was rather abusing that particular platform!) and also telling my friends and colleagues about my work. It turned out that they in turn were telling others. So, it was possibly inevitable that someone might see something they liked and eventually they did. And then so did someone else! It then snowballed from there with requests for commissions.

The commissions have been interesting because none of them were based on subjects that I had previously painted so I saw them as personal challenges. The point is that all of my paintings span a diverse range of subjects and that means I have a range of artwork that could appeal to an equally diverse range of tastes. I also knew that I didn’t want to specialise in just one genre such as landscapes or abstract. I wanted to be free to paint what I like and when I like and in a variety of sizes. The result is that I have a wide range of paintings that I advertise on my website and on Etsy.

Now, I have to be honest and confess that although I do paint a wide range of subjects I have also recently moved into creating a series. The reason behind this is twofold. The first is that if my paintings are successfully selling then it makes sense to make more. The second reason is do with consistency; if I paint two cityscapes months apart they are highly likely to look and feel totally different which could be confusing to collectors. So, I now paint the same types of paintings as a single series so that each painting will have something of a similar style and then be recognisable as my work.

So, I will continue pr producing a range of different paintings and this year my plan is to exhibit my art at as many shows as p possible and then get to test my theory further.

How to paint a cityscape - A Labour of Love

The first time I painted a cityscape was a simple 7 x 8 inch canvas using acrylic paint. From a distance it looked okay but it wasn’t great, in my perfectionist opinion. Mind you, I had only been painting for about two months when I painted it. However, I always love a challenge and, having been inspired by my recent trip to New York, decided to have another go. Of course, being me I couldn’t keep it simple and decided to “go large”! And complicated! I never paint from photographs so this was going to be quite a task and I really didn’t know what the end result was going to look like. In essence, I would be as surprised as everyone else when it was finally completed.

My first attempt at painting a cityscape - 2 months after picking up a brush

My first step was to prepare the canvas and I knew that I wanted to create another night time scene but with a greater focus on the illuminated buildings. Because of the scale of this painting I knew that there would have to be some fine detail in the buildings and that an abstract approach wasn’t really what I was looking for. So, the first step was to get the background in and an outline of the buildings.

Background and building outlines complete the first stages

once all of the major elements and buildings were added it was time to start adding the fine detail and this painting was going to be all about the lighting during the night to give that iconic cityscape look. This part took an awful lot of patience and time!

The impression of the city lights beginning to take shape, layer by layer

Once the city lights were added, which was a real labour of love as each light needed to be added carefully and in several layers to get the effect I was after, it was time to move on to the foreground. I knew that I wanted to have a waterfront with the buildings gently reflected off the surface. It turned out to be a lot harder than I imagined and it took many attempts before I could crack it. I lost count how many times the Gesso undercoat was applied to effectively erase my unsuccessful efforts.

City lights almost completed and then onto the foreground reflections - a major challenge!

In the end, and after a great many attempts, I finally managed to get the reflections just about how I wanted them. If I’m really honest, I think they could have been better but I was up against a deadline to ensure this piece was finished in time for Christmas but overall I’m pleased with the outcome. This one is being given away as a gift but I think I will have another go as, despite the frustration and challenges, this was a lot of fun to create. So, here it is, the final finished painting. If you’re interesting in getting one for yourself I will be selling prints via my store at Etsy.

The finished painting complete with reflections.

How to become an artist - 5 steps to becoming an artist and starting an art career

How to become an artist

5 steps to becoming an artist and starting an art career - learn to sell paintings and artwork

I first picked up a paintbrush on 27th December 2018 having never painted before. I’d never had lessons or any form of tuition or help but I did have a brand new, unused, pan of water colours and some water colour paper. My adventures in art all started when, bored after the excitement of Christmas, I was looking for something to do. Now, I have many hobbies and am forever dabbling in different ones ranging from astronomy, photography, electronics, Raspberry Pi programming…the list goes on and on. So how does that get me to selling paintings and calling myself an artist? Read on my friend, read on.

To alleviate my boredom I opened the water colour set that my wife had bought for me for Christmas two years previous and decided to have a go at painting something. The result was rubbish! Not to be beaten I decided to have another go the following day. It was still rubbish but better than the previous day. And so was the case for the 3rd day. Somewhat frustrated that I wasn’t painting like Van Gogh or Michael Angelo I set myself a personal challenge - to paint something, anything, every single day for 30 days. This was intended to be an experiment to see how my work and ability progressed. So, my first tip on how to become an artist and sell paintings: paint every day, even if it’s small and just for a few minutes, but paint something. Anything.

As I set about painting each day I also spent a lot of time reading articles online on painting techniques and also looked for books on the subject. To augment what I learnt online and in books I also watched many YouTube videos that showed different techniques for both water colour and acrylic. I soon learned what different brushes were for and what interesting effects one could achieve by using unusual tools such as scrunched up foil and ripped sponges and tissue paper. Painting doesn’t have to be with a brush and certainly not just one! So, my second tip to learn how to become an artist: soak up as much information as you can about painting methods and techniques and then put these into practice each day you paint.

Now, a funny thing happens when one does something for 30 days straight, or at least it does to me. The activity becomes a habit, or an addiction depending on how one views it. Either way, I found that after 30 days I felt compelled to paint something every evening. Of course, as I progressed my paintings became more complex and also larger. This meant that I was no longer completing a new and different painting every day but I was still painting every day. The other thing that I noticed was that I didn’t settle on a single genre and actually enjoyed dancing from one subject matter to another. One day it was flowers, then landscapes, then starry skies, then cityscapes and even abstract. My 3rd tip on how to become an artist and sell paintings and artwork: don’t settle on a single genre - have fun by exploring the possibilities of painting anything and everything.

Of course, none of this actually meant that I’d become an artist and I probably still identified more with my day job as research scientist. However, this changed about 6 months into my painting. Yes, by the summer of 2019 I was still painting just about every day. So what changed? Put simply, I posted everything I did on Facebook and Instagram and showed people, mainly friends, what I was up to. People seemed to enjoy seeing the process of producing my paintings and they could also see for themselves how my work was developing. Indeed, some even challenged me to produce specific types of painting, which I loved. After a while I started to get offers to purchase a few of my paintings, which was quite a humbling surprise. But it didn’t stop there. Some people told others about my work and I started to receive requests for specific work to be painted - my first commissions. These quickly grew until my most recent commission which was a 5 feet wide mountain scene which I sold for £800 to a very happy client. I also found that my earlier work also began to sell and I can now honestly claim to have people collecting my art. Some of my paintings have now reached as far afield as Canada and the US! Tip number 4 on how to become an artist and sell your artwork: tell people what you’re doing and show them what you’re up to and encourage them to share.

My final tip on how to become an artist is really quite obvious. You have to put yourself out there! I did my first craft show recently and was not expecting to sell anything but sold 4 paintings one of which needed a credit card reader to complete the transaction! I was so glad I purchased a Square reader! The experience was addictive and great fun and I am now looking to sign up to as many shows throughout the coming year as I possibly can.

Since starting out as an artist I have now sold over 100 paintings, in oils, acrylic and watercolour and completed many paid commissions. Do I self-identify as a research scientist? No, I’m an artist and I’m loving it!

My first painting in December 2018!

A recent commission!