The Story of an 11 Year Old Painting

thathungryartgirl
Jul 20
4 min read

Hello all! Been a bit quiet on here since the Leeds Fair, as I had a week off, then had crack on with my day job for a bit, so sadly I've not have much time to do any blogs or make much art. However, I have had a very unexpected update during this time which I want to tell you about, which was an amazing surprise. To give some context, I'll have to go back to 2013....

I'd recently started a job at City Screen Picturehouse in York, and I was looking for a chance to get back into my art practice. Earlier in the year, I had started volunteering at an independent art gallery and I think looking at all the other art on the walls inspired me to pick up my paintbrush and pencils again. From there, I started experimenting with still life and through some very helpful contacts, I was able to secure some dates for a 2 month exhibition, starting at the City Screen Cafe Bar and ending at the Starbucks on Coppergate (which I believe as of 2025 is a wizard themed crazy golf called 'Hole in the Wand'.....don't ask me why). I would have 7-8 months to then sit down and create the work I was going to exhibit.

As I was already making some paintings focusing on still life, I just stuck with that and ended up with 6 paintings, ranging in size and colour. The final one of the collection was the biggest; a still life inspired by Asian cuisine, at 30inch by 20inch in size, and full of vibrant colours. Named 'Thai Food and a Teapot' (2014), I think the inspiration for that one came from a local cocktail bar in York called 'Evil Eye', and while now it's just all about the drinks, it used to have a really nice Asian inspired food menu, including an Asian inspired Sunday roast. I miss their falafel wraps the most, but that's not important to the story here.

The exhibition, titled 'Food and Flora', began on 15th March 2014 and ended in May of the same year, with 3 of the 6 paintings being sold. They were to friends and family, but I still considered it a success, and with the three paintings left, I wondered what would happen next. The one I did of a tall sandwich stack eventually sold some months later, and out of the two left, I struggle to think what happened to the smaller one (which was a still life of sushi). So as it stands, I consider 'Thai Food and a Teapot' as the remaining painting. I then started to focus on other paintings and doing the chalk boards for City Screen, up until I left in 2015, so for the next 10 years, that remaining painting would either be kept safe in my art folder, or it'd be at my Mum's while I travelled overseas. Ever since Jake and I moved to our current rental, it found itself on the wall in the front room.

We now return to 2025; I opened my Etsy Store in May, and while it would primarily be for my newest prints and cards, I decided to put this painting up there as well. Despite making it available for purchase, I only ever thought this could lead to people asking for commissions in a similar style. I didn't actually think anyone would ever buy it. Well, cut to 2 months later, and I get a message, asking about the painting's size (like a doofus, I left this off the listing), and as I was in the middle of other tasks, I just cracked on with my day, not thinking much about it. But then, 2 hours later, I check my emails while on lunch and I notice that Etsy has sent me a notification.....

'Your product 'Thai Food and a Teapot' has now been purchased!'

......Did that person just buy my painting!?!?!?!?

I genuinely thought it was a mistake at first, and gave myself the rest of the afternoon to process it. Was it legit? Does this person really want MY painting? How is this possible??? Well, turns out it was, and it had properly been sold!

During the next few days, it all sunk in even more, and while I went through the process of taking it off the wall, dusting it, prepping the authentication certificate and packing it up ready for posting, I kept going back to the same thought. 'This only happened because I put this painting up there on a whim! Just by chance!' Not only did the painting sell, but I sold it to someone newly exposed to my work from another country!? I don't think I ever expect things like this to come around, so when they do, I try my hardest to allow myself to feel proud of such an accomplishment. As a Brit, I can be very self-deprecating at times, and for many of us, the negative stuff can stick around a lot longer in our brains than the positive, but I can say with certainty that this is something I did on my own merit, and it resulted in an 11 year old painting being sold in a way I never would have expected.

So for that, for what has happened, I will say to myself;

'Well done....you should be proud of yourself!'

And you know what.....I am!