This is ‘not a squid’

Just before Christmas I received an email from a man by the name of Dan. It said:

“I found your watercolor of a cuttlefish on the web this evening, as part of a quest to find a painting that would be beautiful, a bit creepy, and humorous, all at once. I was very taken by it.”

I was quite chuffed…well, maybe not about the creepy part, but I understand that not everyone sees cephalopods as beautiful. I was mainly surprised that he had even found the image, as it’s buried in a personal art blog that I built so my mum could see what I had been up to.

Dan wanted to buy it. I was thrilled. And then I was faced with having to come up with a price that wouldn’t send him running, but that I was also happy with. We agreed and steps were taken to have professional prints done as he wanted the original and a print. The printers kept referring to the piece as a squid and by my third time correcting them, it had become a joke and was fondly being referred to as the piece that’s ‘not a squid’. In hindsight, I should have titled it that!

I have just today heard that the art has arrived safely to its new home.
Selling my very first piece of artwork (Dan – you’ll always be my first!) followed very closely on the heels of illustrating the book I co-authored with Richard Evershed, Sorting the Beef from the Bull. It is these two events that have led me to become more public with my artwork, though I am admittedly still feeling a little vulnerable about it. There was a time when I wouldn’t have shared it with anyone outside of immediate family, but perhaps years as a writer, having my work critiqued and edited, have thickened my skin.

So here it is…the very first piece of art I’ve sold…’Cuttlefish‘ (a larger version can be found on my new Illustrations page). I will forever be grateful to Dan for giving me the confidence to take this next step.