This month I’m celebrating 10 years of being a full time artist, and what a journey it has been!
When I touched down in New Zealand at the end of 2011 after travelling through Asia and Australia, I didn’t think that a few months later my life was about to change. My aim was to work and live in Queenstown, a tourist hotspot and adrenaline capital of New Zealand. After previously working ski seasons in Canada and France, this seemed like the next place to lay my hat. However, instead of working in another hospitality job so that I could afford to pay rent, eat and snowboard each week, I discovered a small artisan market that took place each Saturday at the lake front in the centre of town. So with a little encouragement, I gathered some necessary items for a market set up, made some prints of my “sketches” that I’d been making on my travels, and prepared for the upcoming art market.
I had no confidence at all, and remember saying “I don’t know how a market works, I’m not ‘Del-Boy’, how can I possibly do this?” But once the first sale of a $10 A4 paper print sold to a passer by, all of the fear of rejection left me. By the end of the day I had made a fair few print sales and an original also, which had boosted my confidence like never before. I’d never experienced complete strangers passing by, seeing my work, liking it, and wanting to buy it! It was a warming feeling that has stayed with me all these years, and it never gets old.
I wish I kept that $10 and had it framed, but little did I know that from that small artisan market on the edge of Lake Wakatipu, my professional art adventure had begun. And over the years as many of you know, I have taken my art to new levels by exploring new themes, techniques and styles, going bigger and bolder with ever expanding ideas. And I have expanded in showcasing my works also, with many international shows all over the world, and a gallery space from home, where I now reside in Somerset, UK. I still love that in person artisan market vibe, hence I continue to sell my works outdoors to the general public, only nowadays in the city of Bath.
Thank you to everyone who has supported and enjoyed my journey with me over the past decade, here’s to the next 10 years!
My first original buyer
My stall each Saturday at the Queenstown Artisan market, on the edge of Lake Wakatipu