A Lifetime's Journey:
Architectural illustration commission: Residential Development Portugal: watercolour: 15 × 27 in (38 × 69 cm) client: Skidmore Owings and Merril Architects
I can still recall the earnest look on the school careers master’s face, as he advised my sixteen year old self that it would be very difficult to make a living as an artist. Although my natural apptitude for drawing and painting lead me towards considering a degree in fine art, or illustration, I ultimately opted to invest whatever creative abilies I felt I may have had into something with a more practical outcome, so I went on to become an Architect instead. The advice, although initially disappointing, turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Skip to my early thirties, I was securely employed in a senior position with good promotional prospects, so my future career path was reasonably secure. Yet I had long felt discontented and inwardly unfulfilled, with a nagging awareness that I really needed to change my life course into doing something more artistically rewarding.
At that time my artistic endeavours were very much spare-time activities. I was exhibiting and selling paintings with a few art societies, along with a couple of private galleries, in addition to being a finalist from time to time in various national arts competitions. I was also attending life drawing groups and giving talks and painting demonstrations to local art groups. Realistically none of the financial returns generated from all these activities put together could have ever amounted to anything like earning a reasonable living. So the risky route of giving up the ‘day job’ in the vain hope that everything would work out all right was never an option. I realised that I should have to find an outlet that would be both inwardly fulfilling yet match my current level of income, or console myself in the knowledge that my artistic interests would have to remain a spare-time activity.
In those - pre-internet - days Architects and Property Developers would often commission hand rendered artists’ impressions from freelance illustrators - commonly known as Perspective Artists - to depict their proposed building projects for marketing and promotional purposes. I decided that maybe this could be my way forward as I was fairly confident that I could adapt my then painterly ability into creating finished renderings ..… I was on a mission.
By the time I reached my late thirties I had taken on a few commissions for local companies and it was becoming apparent that fitting in my spare time activities around my ‘day job’ was getting increasingly difficult. The change of direction I had long been working towards was turning into reality but did I have the courage to give up secure employment to become a self-employed freelancer?
Having done as much preparatory work as possible whilst still employed, the actual transition into self-employment was more of a slide than a leap. Over the following twenty five years I earned my living as a freelance Architectural Illustrator until the mid 2000’s when younger architects coming into the profession began embracing the newer advancing digital technology. So, as to be expected, the demand for hand rendered visuals began to fall by the wayside, signalling another change of direction.
My painting activities by then had evolved into a parallel enterprise and along with securing representation from additional commercial galleries, I had also ventured into part-time teaching, in both residential painting groups and as a correspondence course art tutor, together with writing articles and features for books and arts magazines.
Looking back I consider myself very fortunate in being able to spend my working life doing what I most enjoy doing. It remains, the journey of a lifetime.
Architectural illustration commission: City Centre Development: watercolour: 16 × 24 in (40 × 61 cm)