The Artist - UK (2019-12)

http://www.painters-online.co.uk artistDecember 2019 63

W

hen I was younger I wasn’t
encouraged to pursue
painting as a career. I
was allowed to study art
as an A-level subject, and although I
did seem to have a bit of talent I was
discouraged from applying to art school
so instead I pursued the business
subject of economics.

Rejection

The following year I did apply to
Farnham Art School in Surrey but I
was rejected. So I attended Cardiff
University to read economics. At
university I rarely painted and was
surrounded by people who were
very career orientated. I had no idea
what I wanted to do and had three
jobs in a short space of time, being
asked to leave each after only a few
months. So by the summer of 1992,
having graduated in 1989, I realised
I was virtually unemployable. It was
quite a tough time. I had problems
with language accuracy, sequencing,

A painter’s journey

The path to becoming a successful artist is not always

straightforward – Paul Brown shares his personal journey in the hope

that it will inspire you not to lose hope

spelling, punctuation, grammar and

hand-eye coordination, and thought I

was going mad. At this point I decided

to do exactly what I wanted to do.

A friend had taken me to lunch in

a church in central London. In the

vestibule area there was an exhibition

of prison art. This inspired me to ask

the rector if I could have an exhibition. I

think if he had said no, that would have

been the end of my painting career. But

fortunately he said yes and that was the

beginning of my exhibiting in central

London.

Opportunities

For the next ten years I exhibited

in that church for two weeks, three

times a year, usually in March, June

and September. The church was

brilliantly positioned between St Paul’s

Cathedral and Bank tube station; it

had a restaurant in the crypt and there

were weekly music recitals and guest

speakers. There was lots of activity and

everyone who visited the church had

to walk past my exhibition of paintings.

I was guaranteed hundreds of visitors

a day, with the main activity between

11.30am and 2.30pm, Monday to Friday

(it never opened at weekends). Most

of the visitors worked in the City of

London and were high earners.

With my visitor’s book and sales of

greetings cards I was able to build up

quite a following. Most importantly I

was able to sell my paintings to passing

trade. I sold regularly and always made

sure I invited any purchaser to my

next exhibition. Years later, I read that

my exhibition could be classed as a

pop-up gallery, where you ‘piggy-back’

on other business and events activity.

In one two-week period I sold 17

paintings; in one lunch time I sold five

pictures to passing trade. By regularly

exhibiting, I learnt how to sell my work,

what to say to people and also what

paintings worked best commercially. I

also noted what people said to me and

incorporated any good advice into my

approach.

Paul Brown p Snorkelling Fun, oil on canvas, 12 3 16in (30.5 3 40.5cm)

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