Do You Remember the First Painting You Sold?

I've sold paintings to dozens of art lovers, but I still remember the first picture that someone actually paid me money for !

It was an oil painting of two ladies with impossibly small waists in Edwardian costume.
The parents of a school friend bought it. I was in the third year of senior school, and for my birthday my parents had given me a sturdy artist's box of oil paints and a wooden easel. Believe it or not I still have them.

Things have moved on a lot since that first sale.

But it gave me a taste of what was possible, despite my parents saying "Artists are two a penny. Get a proper job and marry a rich man. Treat art as a hobby."

Still serviceable after all these years! 

But we never listen to our parents , do we?

What was the first painting that you sold? Does it have any similarity to your work now?

My style has changed a lot since those early days. I've worked hard selling in craft markets, galleries, open studio events, in fact in any exhibition space I could find.

As an artist you have to put in the hours to develop  your way of working. After years of factual art I feel I need to say a bit more, about atmosphere and the gut feeling behind what I want to communicate.

This leads to going over to the dark side.

Something I thought I would never do.
I've always regarded abstract art as a bit of a cop out, for those who couldn't draw, but I now realise there's a lot you can't say with an accurate drawing and so my new collection of paintings explores the subjects I love in a more abstract way.
I'm working in my studio quite hard, and soon a whole new body of work will explode into the light!

Meanwhile, leave me a comment on the first painting you sold.