Ashmead’s Kernels, oil on panel, 7 by 5 inches
I must admit I was a bit excited. I’d never seen apples as beautiful, as interesting, as these.
I had so many bags of them in my arms that I kept dropping them.
And I’d never seen so many apples in one place. They were everywhere. And not the usual apples you see in the supermarket, grown for high yield and selected for uniformity.
These were real apples.
Helen and Dave run Day’s Cottage Farm, a traditional apple farm just north of me, in the Cotswolds countryside. The farm has been in their family for generations. They make cider, apple juice and perry and they grow all the apples themselves, with no crop spraying or harmful pesticides.
They manage their old orchards of mature trees, where they specialise in historical Gloucestershire varieties, some of which have been brought back from the brink of extinction.
Their trees also supply homes for local wildlife; owls, woodpeckers and bats. They have yurts where they run courses on traditional tree propagation and management.
Day’s cottage is more than an apple farm. It’s obvious when you meet Helen and Dave and visit their orchards that what have and what they do is the product of a deep passion.
So when I offered to do them a painting of their apples, I knew I was going to have to do my best to do a good job of it!
After all, no-one knows traditional Gloucestershire apples better than Helen and Dave.
So that’s why I’ve been painting these Ashmead’s Kernels. And also why I’ve been painting them with gratitude.
Gratitude
This painting is a thank you present for Helen and Dave for letting me visit their beautiful orchards and showering me with such beautiful, characterful, just downright interesting apples.
They grow over 100 varieties there, so I’ve got plenty yet to try. Now I know the difference, I don’t think I’ll ever paint supermarket apples again.
My studio table is still covered with them, look:
I’m not just grateful for the apples, either. I have so much more to be grateful for.
When Michelle and I sold our house, packed up the kids and left for the Cotswolds a year ago, we had no idea how things were going to turn out. We just knew we didn’t want to (actually, couldn’t) continue to live the life we had.
Now, every morning I make my coffee and come into my own north light studio in the old converted barn we live in and start my day.
I make a point of starting every day with a few moments of gratitude. I’m grateful that I’m still alive. I’m grateful for my family, Michelle and our two boys, and for the way they they’ve bloomed out here.
I’m grateful that I get to do work every day that means something to me, like Helen and Dave do; work that I have have a passion for – painting and teaching.
For a long time I didn’t think I’d get to this point. Although we still live on a combination of what I earn and the money from selling the house, increasingly more of it is what I earn from my work.
It was a risk, yes, selling up and coming out here, trusting that we’d be able to survive on what I earn from painting and teaching.
But I believed it would work out, and it seems I was right.
A new kind of artist
You see, I think things are changing for artists, and it’s the Internet that’s changing them.
With blogs and social media, we can now reach like-minded people all over the world in a way that has never been possible before.
Social media gets a bad press sometimes, but for all the negatives there are huge positives. It’s possible to connect with people meaningfully across huge distances.
And that creates an opportunity for artists that has never existed before.
To be truly and completely independent.
To do the work we love, without being shoe-horned into commercially viable styles by galleries.
To share the knowledge we’ve earned in our hours at the easel without having to rent expensive spaces.
With the Internet and a smartphone, we can invite people from across the world directly into our studios.
And all that means that if we have something of true value to share, all we really need do is find enough people who appreciate it and are willing to support it to make a truly independent living as an artist.
I think that’s pretty exciting.
Yes, you too
Behind the scenes, I’ve been working on an idea I’ve had to help people, to help you, make something of this opportunity.
I’m hoping to have it ready in January (but don’t hold me to that, I’m doing my best but there’s a lot to do!) and if it works as I hope it will, I’ll be able to extend the opportunities that are allowing me to live as I do now to more people.
The two sides of the new artist
I’m deliberately making it very affordable. For a small-ish monthly subscription, you’ll get access to drawing and painting instruction that will help you make better work.
These will be live streams like the ones I’m doing at the moment, but will be private and scheduled, and focused on specific aspects of painting and drawing as well as painting demonstrations. You’ll be able to have input into what we cover.
But being able to produce good work is half the story. I’ll also be sharing, in detail, how I run my business online:
How I set up and run my auctions, manage and grow my email list, grow my contacts, and how I make sure I’m producing teaching materials that people really want and benefit from.
I’ve spent a good few years working in online marketing for some big companies, so I have quite a bit of background.
But here’s the thing: You don’t need massive follower counts on social media and you don’t need to be an “art star” to make a living from your work online.
You need to connect meaningfully with people. Authentically. Enough people to support yourself.
I think we’re all tired of traditional marketing, and what we all want now is authenticity. It certainly feels much more rewarding to do, too!
Why I’m so excited about this
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I’ve run a drawing program, produced tutorial videos and free live webinars, and now live streams from the studio.
I’m going to roll almost all the learning materials I’ve made so far into this, so you’ll get everything as well as whats to come.
It feels like everything I’ve done so far has led me to this point, and I’m determined to make this the most outstandingly useful thing I’ve ever made.
And the knowledge that’s allowing me to live a life that means something to me, that allows me to follow my dreams, is something I”m desperate to share.
Does this sound like it’s for you?
So listen, if you want to be kept up to date on progress of this as I go, and to know when it’s live and ready to go, just pop your email address into this form and I’ll make sure you don’t miss anything.
You’ll also be able to give some feedback on what exactly you’d like to see most as I’m putting it together.
I want to make sure it’s relevant for you, so I’ll be getting in touch every now and again to let you know what I’m adding and to ask what you’d like to see.
When we moved here, we woke up on our first morning, all wrapped up together in a big quilt on the floor, and my eldest boy’s first words as he opened his eyes were:
“Its a new day”.
And I believe it really is.
Best wishes and thanks for reading,
Paul
It is so wonderful to read how your life has evolved and how you are able to do what you love. You definitely deserve it!
Thanks Barbara! I do believe we’ve been in touch for most of it too, It’s so nice to hear from you!
Paul, Great way to start off the New Year! Good luck .
Thanks Joel 🙂
I have followed you for awhile now and know the difficulties (healthwise) you have endued and surpassed. And now you are doing and feeling well. That is a great accomplishment. I do love and learn how you introduce color and see it to the finished product of art. I too am downsizing due to not being able to live like I have been. I don’t know where I will end up (relocation) but I know, as a survivor myself, it will all work out.
I would love to be able to just spend a few days on a painting using your techniques and be able to produce something that a “viewer” would want to buy. All paintings tell a story and hopefully a customer will come by and it will speak to them.
Let me know, Paul, what you plan for 2019. If it is not too expensive, I am in.
Great, thanks Kathy. I’ll be sharing more details shortly after Christmas. I’m winding down for a bit of time off with the kids now 🙂
God has truly Blessed You! You have shown a lot of people that it’s not talent but desire and knowledge that makes a real Artist!
Brilliant 🙂 thanks Helen.
Thank you so much for sharing with your readers what you think and what you understand .Your blog and demonstrations help me to improve my paintings.Im very grateful
Varda
Thank you Varda, I’m very happy to hear that.
I enjoy your relaxed, humble presentations. It does feel authentic and all out on the table – no gimmicks. I’m a perineal beginner, too old for much formal training but would love to continue the journey into sharing my art. Not much to share yet but no reason not to be learning how share while I learn how to paint. I enjoy your work and your process, ideas.
Thank you Becky that’s great to hear. That’s exactly how I got started, by sharing my learning as I went. It’s true that there’s a lot more noise out there than there was when I started this blog, but there are also more opportunities to be heard too.
What a wonderful post Paul. You’re an art rock star and I’m a fan! I’m excited for you and I’m in no doubt that this will be a success. Roll on January – and roll on Belfast in April x
Hah! Thank you but I’m really not 🙂 In large part that’s the message I have for everyone who’s interested in doing this: I don’t have a huge follower count and I haven’t had national press or anything like that, but I’m still doing ok. If I can do it, you can too!
Mostly it just takes time and, I think, being prepared to share openly.
Congratulations on such success in your first year in the Cotswolds – such a big step and fully justified!
Thanks very much PJ! Hoping we’ll be crossing paths again sometime – I’m coming back to Belfast in spring, and possibly the south too next year.
This is so exciting! I have watched your videos and live streams for quite a while. It is so lovely that you and your family doing well in your new place. I am looking forward to learning more. Thank you!
Thanks Renee 🙂
:~}
😀
It’s such a scary thing to make such a big change in life, like you have Paul and sometimes when there is no other better alternative, it makes us do it! Having a family to support makes decisions made even more considered, so I’m really thrilled that your move has turned out so well for you all. Your new studio with perfect north facing light and the beautiful countryside you live in and the bonus of having Day’s Cottage Farm with all their amazing variety of apples to continue to inspire your creativity, is just so brilliant. All you’ve said about changes we are in with social media is so true and if we as artists can tap in to finding a way of earning a decent living from the artwork we love to make, then that would be fantastic. I believe that there is enough ‘out there’ for all of us! I’m looking forward to what you have in store to share with us in the new year 🙂 Best Wishes to you Paul 🙂
Yes, Connie, there absolutely is enough out there for all of us, I agree!
I really think it’s a completely new model for artists that has never existed before. Instead of making art for the wealthy, which has been the only way to earn a living as an artist for hundreds of years, we can make art for ordinary people, like us, that means something to us too.
There are many considerations to take into account of course, what kind of art we make, etc. But My personal feeling is that painting doesn’t have to be on a grand scale or be concerned with grand themes in order to be meaningful.
Your story is so inspiring Paul! We also took a chance like this a long time ago and it took courage and fortitude. We had to quit our jobs (my husband was ill and needed to get out of the pollution) and make a new life north of all the pollution. It was the best thing we ever could have done. I was so grateful to have come up with a job in less than 3 days of our move and the rest is history. I am so grateful for the wonderful life we now have. I try to be grateful every day, just like you. MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and your wonderful, beautiful family. Bronwen
Wonderful Bronwen! I’m very happy for you, and merry Christmas to you too 🙂
I am so delighted to have found you, Paul. And I have just purchased the big “Munsell Book of Color Glossy Collection”. I bought the smaller one when I saw how you used it, but I wanted all the colors. Thank you so much for introducing it to us students. Can hardly wait for it to arrive.
Yes, the big book is really the one to go for if you want to work seriously with this method of understanding colour. I think you’ll find it will expand your colour knowledge greatly. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about anything.
Do you always work from the Munsell book? Is it necessary ? It is rather an expensive item, much as it is desirable! How about en plain aire? or painting from photographs taken on holiday ? Also what is the palette you work on hanging beside the painting? that also looks desirable! Lots to find out and look forward to more news in January. Thanks Pam.
I almost always use Munsell when I’m painting, yes. But let’s be clear, Munsell is really a way of conceptualising colour, of thinking about it in three terms: hue, value and chroma. The fact that any colour can be accurately matched if you know those those three aspects is evidence enough that the concept works in practice – no theory required 🙂
The Munsell book itself is best thought of as a map of the colour space. Yes, it is expensive. But it’s contributed more to the development of my painting skills and knowledge of colour than any other single investment I’ve made. In large part, using Munsell has taught me to paint. I’ve been using it for about 10 years now, so the cost of the book at current prices would average out at around $100 a year for that period, or less than $10 a month.
It’s a lot to spend at once, yes. But the benefit over time far outweighs the cost. Of course it’s also very important how you use it , but I’m continually putting out materials that will show you what I’ve found to be the best ways to employ it in order to develop understanding of and skill with colour, so help is available without spending any extra.
The palette is part of a plein air set up from Prolific Painter, I just remove the wings when I’m using it in the studio. It’s good, but I got the plexiglass one so it would be lighter, I really need to change back to a glass one because I mix with a palette knife and it really scratches up the surface of plexiglass!
Here’s the set up:
https://www.prolificpainter.com/shop/easel/