peter
“Changes are good in life! You see, before I became an artist, I used to work as a graphic designer and a creative director which I loved. It was before the digital age, so we used to work on big drawing boards and we used cameras with rolls of film and dark rooms; all manual! But in 89’ when the digital age came in we were all made completely redundant. Together with all the typesetters and line and type operators, all my friends and colleagues I used to deal with lost their jobs. In Ireland alone, about 2-3 thousand people became unemployed in the same year. It was great for Microsoft and the other guys but wasn’t that great for us. Well, some of us could deal with the transition, but for me, it was time to make a decision. I didn’t want to go back to work with computers, and there wasn’t enough work for all of us anyway. I always loved painting, though I never believed I’d be able to sell my work, but I decided to go off travelling for a while, with an old battered van. That was the best decision I have ever made! I spent four months in Italy painting the landscapes of Tuscany, and it was wonderful. I made new connections and I ended up having a show there, where I sold some of my paintings. On the way back to Ireland, I went through Switzerland, where a gallery owner saw my work and said, ‘Let’s frame them up and I’ll give you a show.’ I had three beautiful shows in Zurich the same year. That was probably a high-point in my life. I was selling my paintings for Swiss prices, so you can imagine! I didn’t even have to finish my travelling, I went all around Europe doing what I loved the most. I still travel a lot and my life wouldn’t be the same without that big change. I’m not saying it would be worse, but it was just about being able to adapt myself to the new situation. Changes are good in life! It opens up new doors; you just have to have the courage to enter them!”