The art of Ken Gillam also known as artyman

I am often asked about buying art, with regard to prices and values and also prints, and the risks of buying online. For what it's worth here are a few of my thoughts on the subject. You are completely free to disagree with everything I say, I shan't be offended... promise.

Guide to buying art:-
Many people are wary about buying art, particularly from new or unknown artists, and unsure how much to pay, and wonder whether is it value for money. There is also the question of buying online where you don't get to see the actual work for real. Since this is a website I shall tackle this first.

Buying art online appears to present a problem for the buyer as they cannot physically see the painting, just an image which may or may not do credit to the actual piece for sale. The most important issue is does the seller offer a refund service if, when you receive the painting, you are dissapointed. Any worthwhile artist selling online should offer this as I do myself. Frequently the real thing will look far better than a representation on the computer screen. So can you trust the seller is the next big question. Despite comments that you read on the sellers website or auction listing, check that the feedback is genuine. A search of the web for the sellers name will usually bring up some results that you can check. Places like Ebay or eBid which operate seller reference systems. Has the seller won any awards, Do they belong to any Art Societies, this can all give you peace of mind. You can also check the web for evidence of this. If you have doubts ask the seller for some information to assist you. It is all a matter of building trust and confidence. Most artists are looking to establish a relationship with the buyer so they may purchase future work, so will not want to jeopardise this. You could of course arrange a cash on collection, most artists welcome personal contact with their patrons.

View:-
What is the visual stimulus that catches your eye. You may be instinctivly drawn to a particular watercolour or acrylic painting. Stand back and consider it as a whole. (This may be difficult on the Internet!) I have often seen people peering closely at a watercolour painting trying to decide whether to purchase or not. Whilst this is useful for examining technique, most paintings in the home are viewed from across the room, sitting in your favourite chair! Stand back, view the painting from the same distance as you would view it at home. Even Constable's 'Haywain' looks completely different close up and may not encourage a purchase!

Value:- How much should I pay, and is it worth it. Value is different to price. Several million pounds for a painting may be the price for a work by a famous artist, but is that its value. You value a painting because you like it, the price should be what you are prepared to pay to have it on your wall, as opposed to someone elses. An artist usually spends considerable time on a good watercolour painting, and in addition to the overhead costs of brushes, paint, paper,mounts, and frames, also needs to feed themselves. If they spend 30 hours on a watercolour painting for example, is £120 expensive, that's less than the miniumum hourly wage, they'd be better stacking shelves at Tesco.

Most artists paint because of an inbuilt creative urge, driven to make a statement about the subject that inspired them to put brush to paper or canvas in the first place. So assuming you had the skill as an artist and spent the time painting it yourself, ask if you would be prepared to sell the painting you are considering for less.

Prints:-Are prints worth buying? A print is never going to have the same appeal as an original painting. It is a copy, albeit a good copy, even difficult to tell apart sometimes. An original painting which you purchase will always bring pleasure both to the purchaser who views it and also to the artist who has the satisfaction that his work is appreciated by others.

A print will provide the same visual stimulus as the original, but does not carry the same kudos as owning the original work of art. They are of course more affordable and bring pleasure to the viewer. I have only recently started to produce prints of my work to place it within reach of the modest collector.

Top celebrity artist's prints sell for hundreds of pounds, but then their originals often cost thousands. It is all a question of scale. The fundamental question with any piece of art is "DO YOU LIKE IT" if so, and you can afford it, buy the original, or if that's too expensive then buy the print.

To view some art online and see what I mean visit my Website www.artyman.co.uk

I have recently started painting miniatures, which provide me with a pleasant change from my normal sized works. These are 3.5" x 2.5" in size and are also referred to as ACEO's, which is an acronym for Art Cards Editions and Orignals. The ACEO movement started in America as an offshoot of ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) which were exhanged between artists. It was felt that this unique format should be brought to a wider public and hence the ACEO movement was born whereby not only artists have access to these delightful miniature paintings but also other collectors.

Artists first began using these cards centuries ago in Europe. Some wealthy patrons would pay artists to paint miniature pocket-sized paintings that they could carry on their person. It was not uncommon for men to carry these miniatures of their mistresses. Artists also would trade these miniature paintings with other artists to share their techniques and also as barter for goods that they might need from various merchants who could not afford to buy their larger paintings.

There are now hundreds of artist worldwide from whom you can purchase, some being highly sought after, with prices reaching into hundreds of pounds at auction. Principally though they remain a very affordable way of creating your own unique art collection. They can be framed and displayed as a group, in an alcove or small corner, as a feature for your decor. Alternatively many display them in albums like a coffee table book. Miniatures can be obtained for couple of pounds to hundreds depending on your pocket, either way, they can be an inexpensive way of building your own unique art collection.

Visit my website www.artyman.co.uk to view some of my miniature paintings.

This is just one of my commissioned paintings, why not consider a commission yourself ? If you thought that commissions were only for the wealthy, then you will be pleasantly surprised. Commissions are affordable and can cost from as little as £75, and I am always open to discussion about your particular requirements.

Here is your opportunity to have a picture created for you at no risk. I am only interested in satisfied clients and offer a full refund if the work is returned. Paintings are very much a matter of personal taste, so if you decide on completion you are not completely happy with the result, there is no obligation to proceed with the purchase. (never had one returned yet though!)Though I have had people return at a later date for another painting! Some clients now have four in their collections.

Some comments from previous satisfied clients:

'Thanks very much for all your hard work Ken - I thought you would like to know that my parents were absolutely delighted!'
'Many thanks for the two delightful pictures you have painted for us and to let you know that they now have pride of place in our living room'
'Absolutely fantastic, the sea looks real'
'That's brilliant, it will have pride of place in our new house'
'My wife was thrilled, it made her birthday, thank you so much.'

To find out about commissioning a painting visit my website www.artyman.co.uk, no obligation whatsoever, so don't think you will be subjected to high pressure selling, a chat will cost you nothing.

We are currently in a little bit of a mess at the moment as the new conservatory is being installed, still I suppose it will be a nice place to paint when it is all finished. The client came to collect his painting of Fausto Coppi at the weekend and was delighted, he said it was far better than he envisaged. Always nice to have really happy customers.

This painting of the great days of the 'J' class yachts

Whilst we are having a new conservatory built we had a day without the builders so took the opportunity to visit the National Trust gardens at Stourhead, a stunning manmade landscape garden, these are a few of the photographs I took which will serve as reference material for some future paintings.

I have just sold this painting of the famous beauty spot in Yorkshire. It was the largest painting I have done to date measuring 48"x20". I was eaten alive by midges whilst at the location, it being late evening. The sun was just kissing the tops of the trees on the other side f the river so, I took some reference photographs and escaped to the safety of the car, completing the painting later when I returned home.

I am a little sad to see it go as it has given me much pleasure hanging in my dining room for some time before I listed it for sale. I have of course other paintings which can be seen on my website www.artyman.co.uk

I was asked a few months ago if I would do a demonstration for the Hythe Art Society, as they had seen my Marine and Seascape work and felt it may help their members. I was told a group of 20/30, so leaving in what I thought was plenty of time only to get snarled in traffic I arrived with 5 minutes to spare so setup was rather more hurried than antcipated. The room was packed with 40/50, had my 'fame' preceded me I wondered. It was a most enjoyable evening as I shared how I came to be an artist and gave them some insight on my methods of working. There was much jostling to look at the half dozen paintings that I had also taken along to illustrate the varied nature of seascapes during the tea interval.

It was a new experience for me and quite a challenge as normally my paintings take around 30 hours or more to complete, so the demo was not as 'finished' as my usually detailed work. From the applause and comments at the end of the evening I think my first venture into demos was a success.

The unfinished painting.

Seems as though I have struck a chord with some buyers as other people have been asking to buy prints of  "Moonlight Anchorage" and I have therefore put this up on eBid together with some other prints Click Here to see them

I delivered the painting of "Aysgarth Falls" to the new owners last Saturday, it is always nice to meet your patrons in person. It gave me a chance to try out a Sat Nav system for the first time.

I've been watching the birds in the garden during the cold weather and got these shots of a couple of them. Perhaps this Robin is a refugee from a Christmas card.

A Goldfinch resplendent in his flashy plumage

With the usual pandemonium for Christmas, and I still have presents to wrap! not much painting being done. I hope you all enjoy the celebrations and not forget the real reason for the season.

Well the Christmas period was pleasant if relatively uneventful with some of the family suffering from colds, which posponed some celebrations. This last week has been an odd sort of week that seems to have flown by, but I don't know where it went.

I've been selling some of my miniatures, three of them bought by one person. This is one of them


I bought myself a new pencil sharpener this week, electric, so I might get round to doing some more sketching since resharpening will not be such a chore. This is a little coloured pencil piece that I did yesterday.



I'm pleased to say that I got my car back from the today, following the damage of the rear wheel arch done by 'white van man' whose comment was classic - " I saw you but thought you'd gone".

It is early February and I have just got back from the Preview Evening at Rugby Museum and Art Gallery. The Exhibition is by a group of us who form the Independent Artist Group who came together to exhibit our work throughout the country, in addition to our normal online selling activities.

It enables us to present people with the opportunity to see our art work in the real world, and following on from our successful exhibition in Nottingaham last year.

There are exhibits from 15 artists covering a wide range of styles so if you are near the area why not pop along for a browse. Full details of viewing times can be found here

This is one of four watercolours that I am showing,

I have just completed another commissioned painting for a client, this time of a sunny beach in Barbados, a great shame that the overall budget didn't quite stretch to a personal visit for on-site location sketches. The image of the completed painting was first emailed for the customer's approval, and it has today been entrusted to the care and protection of Royal Mail.



Have you considered commissioning a painting of a place that is special to you, why not visit my website and view previous commissions. I welcome enquiries on my website www.artyman.co.uk and there is no obligation or high pressure selling, so come and have a browse.

The Elizabeth Foundation, a charity for deaf children held an exhibition this weekend and this is one of my paintings which was sold as part of the event to raise funds for the charity.



I have also started painting some miniature seascapes this week for another forthcoming exhibition, life is rather busy.

It was nice to see Lewis Hamilton winning the first Grand Prix of the 2008 season, I have prints of my original acrylic painting of him in Canada last year, winning his first Grand Prix.



Both of these prints can be purchased via my webite www.artyman.co.uk

I have been busy this week painting some new work for a forthcoming exhibition. This is an Autumn scene that I have been meaning to paint for a while. Time seems an increasingly scare commodity these days and I will lose a day next week as I show my work at a Craft Fair.

It has been a busy week, preparing and attending a Craft Show locally. Another of my Limited Edition prints now finding a new wall to hang on. You can see more of these low cost prints at Tazbar.com

I have also been painting some more miniatures, this being one of the countryside series

This is one of three of my larger paintings being shown at the exhibition this weekend, along with a number of miniatures. Not much painting done this week, as varnishing the garden seat doesn't really count as proper painting.

This is acrylic landscape painting was sold at the exhibition I recently entered, and as a bonus have subsequently sold another Limited Edition print of it as well. You can buy copies of this print along with more of my artwork from my online store at Ebid.net



I visited the Guild of Railway Artists exhibition last week, and that has rekindled my love of steam trains, so a visit with my son to the Great Western Railway Centre at Didcot is scheduled for next month, you should expect to see a railway painting before long.

Well now that the April showers are hopefully out of the way, the weather may be good enough to venture outside on some painting expeditions.

I've just completed this acrylic on canvas, though unsure if it's a landscape or a wildlife painting. Since the deer caught in the shafts of sunlight filtering through the trees is the focal point, is it a wildlife painting........ you decide.



Have shipped a couple of prints to the USA this week, I've noticed that deliveries there seem to be taking a little longer these days, perhaps the postman is driving slower to conserve fuel given the rising costs that we are all suffering from at the moment.

I have also just completed an order for notecards of a selection of my paintings which are sold to support the League of Friends at my local hospital

My son and I took the opportunity to visit the Watercress Line preserved railway, that runs on part of the old Meon Valley Line in Hampshire. This watercolour painting is based on a photograph I took as the train arrived at Medstead and Four Marks, the highest point on the line before descending the steep gradient to Alton.

This watercolour painting is a recollection of the granduer of the West coast of Scotland, from one of my visits some years ago. As an artist you cannot fail to be inspired by the majestic scenery and rugged beauty of the place, and I feel I shall have to make a long overdue return visit before too long.

This painting is likely to be exhibited at the Annual Exhibition of the Portsmouth and Hampshire Art Society to which I was elected as a full member a few years ago. The exhibition will run from 27th July to 8th August at Portsmouth Cathedral, so worth a visit if you are in the area on holiday.



You are welcome to visit to view more of my paintings and completed commissions on my website.
www.artyman.co.uk

Following on from the train painting I did a few weeks back I searched the web to find some locations where I could photograph steam on a mainline. I came across a website and learnt of a steam special running from London Waterloo to Weymouth, being pulled by an old Southern Railway Bulleid air smoothed pacific locomotive 'Tangmere' one of the Battle of Britain class, appropriate in this the 90th anniversary of the Royal Air Force. I decided that a good vantage point would be to the west of Southampton Central station, unfortunately the weather hadn't taken any notice of the name of the train, 'Sunny Coast Special' and I ended up getting soaked, and what was worse was that after drying out all my gear including my mobile phone, I didn't get one shot worth keeping. The rain gave all the pictures a very grainy quality like something taken with an old box brownie.

Not to be deterred I found an old photograph taken on the Torbay - Kingswear line in Devon whilst on holiday with my son many years ago and this painting is the result.

It's been a little strange this week, not really sure where all the time has dissappeared, but some of it has been spent creating my first video for YouTube which can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBxaIvNnCII Trying to find some music of the correct length took some searching.

Setting up the exhibition this afternoon. If you fancy a personal visit to see my art in the flesh, so to speak, then the venue is Portsmouth Cathedral and it runs daily from Saturday 26th July until Friday 8th August, you might even bump into the artist. There are plenty of other interesting things to see in Portsmouth so could be worth having a day out.

Two sales and a commission, sounds a bit like the Film Title "Four Weddings and a Funeral"

I have sold two of my paintings from the Summer Exhibition, one being the train painting exiting Greenway Tunnel, and I hadn't even got round to hanging it on my wall! Guess I shall have to paint myself another train picture.

I have been busy this week working on a commission, a totally new subject for me so quite a challenge. When I sent an image of the painting to the client for her approval she said it made her cry, so it sounds like I've managed to capture the character of her much loved pet.

I you would like a particular painting, please contact me for a no obligation discussion at www.artyman.co.uk where you can also see more of my work.

Spent the Bank Holiday weekend exhibiting some of my paintings, well the weather wasn't that good for the beach anyway! Spent some of the time painting and chatting to visitors, made three sales as well, so probably better than getting sunburnt anyway.

Spent a day this week chasing a steam locomotive across Oxfordshire to get some photographs as reference for a future painting. Nothing captures the romance of rail travel like these classic locomotives. The Duchess of Sutherland is an LMS 4-6-2 designed by Sir William Stanier and can be seen on the occasional steam preservation special runs. This is one of the photographs I captured.

As an artist I'm always looking for reference material for paintings, particulalrly where accuracy is reqired for technical subjects like trains and boats. A visit to the Bluebell railway last week provided a rich source of material and this is a photograph of a Southern Railway U class locomotive taken at Sheffield Park.



Next up was a wild drive round Hamphire to capture Oliver Cromwell, no! not that Oliver Cromwell, but a BR Standard 7 Britannia class, captured here at Whitchurch.



Finally on one of our rare sunny days after all the recent rain I go this shot of 'Waverley' the last ocean going Paddle Steamer as she entered Portsmouth Harbour.



So I now have some useful photographs as reference for future paintings. If you wan to see some more of my railway photographs just click one of the images.

Well in what has not been a very good summer I managed to find a few days sunshine and grabbed the opportunity to take a short holiday in the Isle of Wight. Whilst temperatures were not sufficient lie basling in the sun it was nevertheless very pleasant, and with some stunning scenery near where we were staying. I have plenty of photographs, and perhaps the only slight dissappointment was that when we visited the Isle of Wight Steam Railway at Havenstreet, there were no old Southern Railway locomotives. They did have a fine collection of vintage carriages though, so not all was lost and the photographs will prove useful reference for future paintings.

These are a few of the photo's that I took showing some of the stunning views from St Catherines Down and further west along the coast toward Freshwater.







I have sold three paintings at exhibition since returning home, and now need to settle down to some serious work over the coming months to complete a commission and prepare for next years round of exhibitions.

I'm amazed that it has been so long since posting my last entry on this blog, where does the time go. I've been chasing steam trains again and captured Sir Lamiel, the only King Arthur Class locomotive in existence, after a chase around the Oxfordshire countryside, I arrived a little late and she was pulling away after having takjen on water, so the shots were not as composed as I would have liked.

Then this last weekend I went to Eastleigh to photograph a Bulleid Merchant Navy Class Pacific when it was hauling a Pullman Special to the Queen Elizabeth II Terminal at Southampton Docks.

These photographs will provide useful reference information for a series of railway paintings that I'm planning.

This is her just after leaving Eastleigh where she was built over 40 years ago

And at Journeys end entering Southampton Docks

You can purchase these photos from my Fanatstic Fotos store on eBid.net a place where you you can also find great bargains from other sellers.

This painting of the LMS locomotive 'Duchess of Sutherland' is the latest in my steam train series, it may be a little while before I paint again as I have to have a small operation on my brush hand, so not sure when it will enable me to pick up a brush again. You can check out my other paintings on my website.



This painting has now been sold to a collector in the USA

Following a visit to my doctor I was referred to the local hospital for the removal of a skin cancer. Unfortunately this was on my brush hand so a partially completed painting had to wait until a couple of days ago before it could be resumed. As with most things there is always a plus side and it has excused me from dishwashing duties for the time being.

This is the painting, of a Great Western Railway pannier tank locomotive running alongside the River Dart in Devon. This is from a photograph I took of the scene about twenty years ago.



I have the stitches removed from my hand next Thursday,and I'm hoping they will finish in time for me to go and photograph a Gresley A4 Pacific locomotive that will be running a steam special that day.

Following the recent operation on my hand, I saw the consultant today who said that the growth they removed was "Bowenoid Keratosis" but not malignant, so Good News and no further visits are neccessary. The bad news is I'm now fully fit dishwashing wise!

Being positive I have to be up early tomorrow to try and get some photographs of "Bittern" a Gresley Pacific A4 class steam locomotive, which is passing nearby en route to Bath. More reference material for future paintings.

I've also been busy this week selling some of my flower photographs, you can see them in my Fantastic Fotos Store over on Ebid.net

The train I was planning to photograph had the schedule changed to Saturday 5th, so I was able to be more relaxed about getting the stitches removed from my hand. That went Ok and I had good news today when I visited the hospital who confirmed that the bit they cut out was not malignant, so I have a clean bill of health.

Need to be up early to photograph the train tomorrow, but at least the weather forecast is good so hopefully the light will be OK.

Well the weather was good, but very cold and the train was about an hour behind schedule so I ended up getting frozen. This was one of the photographs which is available from my Fantastic Fotos store over on Ebid



I expect like most people this is the time of year when there seems to be so much to do and so little time. I've been busy packing and shipping various things for the monthly charity auction that is held on eBid you can find some great bargains so why not check out the next one on 23rd January, just search for YDC.

I've been buying online to avoid chasing round the shops saves the old legs and the hassle. I expect painting will be on hold over Christmas as time is devoted to the family. May I wish you all a Joyful Christmas and Happy New Year.

Now that the Christmas festivities are over may i wish you a happy New Year. This painting was delivered just in time by the Post office to make it into Santa's sack and is now delighting it's new owner who said it is WONDERFUL!



The usual gorging on turkey chocolates drink and the usual sesonal fare, together with visits to family left no time for painting, so now we are into 2009 time to get my brushes wet and crack on with the planned paintings.

Not the latest film that I hav been to see but my latest experimentation with the wonders of YouTube. A while ago I created a short video of a selection of my artwork this can be seen on my website, my newest creation is of some of my photographs which I sell on Ebid it is quite short so why not pop over and have a look and let me know what you think.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iStRMtzRmE0

Over the years I have been asked to paint peoples houses, not the Dulux dog thing you understand, in fact my first ever commission was a cottage for someone's daughter. Well history seems to have repeated itself after all these years, I've just delivered this painting which is going to be a gift for someone elses offspring.



If you would like to consider a commissioned painting, just contact me through my website www.artyman.co.uk an enquiry will cost you nothing and there is no obligation so whatever your request just ask.

Well with all the snow at the moment and sub zero remperatures, it makes you wonder if it's too cold to paint, well outside anyway. Can you imagine it watercolour freezing on the brush before it hits the paper!

I took the opportunity to take some photographs of the snow since it is a rare occurence these days, whatever happened to global warming? These are at the English Heritage site at Portchester Castle, on the site of an original Roman fort, it was built shortly after 1066 by the Normans.

On a freezing cold day a couple of weeks ago I went to a Nature Reserve to test out a new Telephoto lens I recently purchased. Initial results look promising, though I have to confess it does weigh rather a lot so definitely a tripod job, or else I need to do some bodybuilding. This is one of the shots from the day, a pair of Gadwalls, which look similar to Mallards.



This morning a preserved steam locomotive was passing nearby so I took the opportunity to grab some shots of it ready for a potential painting. It is a Bulleid designed Battle of Britain Class Pacific locomotive, they were nicknamed "Spam Cans" because of their air smoothed casings. This one is 'Tangmere' named after the Battle of Britain airfield near Chichester. Seen here crossing the viaduct on the way to Fareham.

From one of the photographs from my trip to the Nature Reserve at Titchfield Haven I created this acrylic painting, I was waiting for my wife who was in the shop, probably like a thousand other husbands! and these three ducks came by preparing to land I grabbed a quick shot, which was the inspiration for this painting.

I sold two original paintings this week, This was one of them
more can be seen on my website, which reminds me I must do some updating there.

Since my wife was out all day yesterday I grabbed the chance to visit a local Nature Reserve to take some wildlife photographs. Came across this little Egret doing a spot of fishing in the sunshine. Brilliant white plumage is a nightmare to try and photograph.

This original watercolour painting at an exhibition recently.


It is the 100th Anniversary of the Portsmouth and Hampshire Art Society being founded, so need to create something special for their Summer Exhibition. What is puzzling me is where does all my time dissappear?

I along with a number of notable artists have donated a painting that is being auctioned in support of "Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital" . You can see this and the other works and perhaps place a bid in support of this worthwhile Charity here.

I've also just completed this miniature watercolour painting which will be one of my entries in a forthcoming exhibition. Life has been busy recently not even been away for a summer break, and so I hope to get some more painting done in the coming months.