We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ellie Verrecchia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ellie , thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I came to a creative career through a non traditional route. As a child, I painted, made things and drew before I could walk, and it seemed obvious that creative would be the route for me. But I was also academic, and had a constant wrangle about which aspect of my education to pursue. I gained a place at one of the UK’s top universities to split my degree between Fine Art and Language. But I struggled to find a happy balance between the two – and decided reluctantly to drop the Fine Art part of my degree, and focus on what I thought would be the more ‘employable’ route, choosing an academic qualification.
Ironically, for my first job I fell straight back into creative with a first role in Product Design and Marketing, working for a children’s product company and with big brands including Disney. I progressed quickly, moving to a design and buying role with Hallmark which saw me travel overseas and experience Far East production of products. I worked for a children’s publisher on the Licensing side, and then took up a role for a fashion company as Head of Creative and Comms. So I finally came into being a full-time artist with a lot of skills from the world of fashion and business – an eye for colour and trend, project management, marketing, and copywriting skills, storytelling and brand-building.
I’ve always been a searcher, and a maker. As kids, our holidays were unusually spent in wild natural places as our dad wasn’t keen on crowds, and one of the places we visited each year was the beautiful remote Isles of Scilly 28 miles off the coast of Cornwall, UK with its centuries of seafaring and shipwreck history. Wandering the wild coastline I picked up objects that interested me, beachcombing for sherds of ceramic pottery, seaglass and interesting surfaces like driftwood. My dad is an antique dealer, so each object was accompanied by his stories of people of the past, and places far away, which fascinated me.
My meaningful project
25 years into my career, I was starting to dream of a different life away from the desk – with more freedom, creativity and time spent outdoors. I’d been following a movement from the USA called Financial Independence and building towards a position of financial self-reliance so that I could at least part-retire from employment in my 40’s. I was looking for a second income stream – and it found me, in the shape of a piece of driftwood that washed up at my feet on those beautiful islands. It was large and torn by the waves, sea softened and bleached by the sun. I looked at it and relised it might well have come from a wreck. Its grain and texture intrigued me and I realised it would make the perfect canvas for a painting. I cycled it across the island to a favourite beach, and a very tentative painting emerged on its surface – the sweep of white sand, wild dune grass and turquoise sea. I made three paintings on similar surfaces during that holiday, and a chance meeting with another holidaymaker who had once worked for a gallery gave me the confidence to post it on social media. She said my work was really interesting and that I should stick my head in at the island gallery and say hello. After posting images of the piece on social I quite quickly received a couple of enquiries about commissions. Having no idea about how to price such work I decided I would go and see the gallery for advice. I wrapped the art in tea towels from the holiday cottage, put them in my bike basket and headed across to the gallery.
When I got there the gallery manager said she didn’t usually see ‘walk-ins’ and I realised that this was perhaps not the usual protocol! She took me upstairs to her office, overlooking the string of islands in the archipelago and no more that twenty paces from the sea. She took a look at the work and said ‘what you need to decide is whether youd like to deal with customers directly, or whether you’d like to be represented by a gallery, like us. Oh, and – please don’t wrap your paintings in tea towels!’ Twenty minutes later I walked out of there, a represented artist. It gave me the confidence to start saying ‘I am an artist’ and to start producing and selling my work. That original first painting was sold with 24 hours. I later found out that the owners of the island had acquired it for their private art collection, and it was placed in the newest waterside luxury accommodation, Lighthouse.
That project was meaningful to me beause it started a chain of events that led to me finally quitting my job in 2021 to pursue a career as artist, teacher of painting to groups and searcher of objects through beachcombing, mudlarking and metal detecting. I have built a life of freedom, travel and residencies to interesting places through luxury holiday businesses. I have set up a website and two instagram accounts – one for my art @ellieverrecchia_artist , the other for my searching and love of historical objects @miss_detectorist
Ive been supported by Arts Council England with a year of study at renowned Newlyn School of Art, and become involved in exhibitions of my coastal paintings. Ive made commissions and built a thriving print business. I’m so proud of what I’ve achieved in these past few years and grateful for that first piece piece of driftwood, and that first project. After all those years of searching, a new life found me!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Ellie Verrecchia, I’m a contemporary seascapes artist and teacher of painting in the UK. I’m also a searcher of objects and recently (accidentally) became a monetized YouTuber!
My art studio is based near Bantham beach in South Devon, England. Infused with seawater, each original coastal painting starts with natural surfaces – driftwood or natural wood panel, canvas and recycled paper.
A barefoot beachcomber, I collect references from the seashore and build my signature light and airy coastal palette from sea glass, ceramic, shell and stone. 25 years working in fashion and interiors product design brings an eye for trend and colour to the easel.
Exhibited at leading British coastal art galleries, I’m a ‘TRESCO ARTIST’, connected to the Isles of Scilly through my work with Gallery Tresco and the wider Cornish islands’ community. I also teach painting workshops along the coast, including visitor sessions for National Trust and Wildlife Trust.
In 2023 my work was supported by public funding from Arts Council England when I completed a year of Studio Practice at renowned Cornish centre for painting, Newlyn School of Art.
I provide a number of services to my clients – they can buy original paintings via my website, galleries or on commission. Limited edition giclee prints are another way to experience my artwork and achieve a sea view painting at an affordable entry price point. I work with luxury holiday businesses, attending for periods of residency and connecting a new client base to their holiday offer via the creation of artwork, social media and brand collaboration. Finally I work with festivals and heritage/wildlife organisations to support visitor experience by offering painting workshops to connect people to coastal places through my work.
What sets me apart from others is my professional background in creative, brand-building and marketing. I have a mini MBA in marketing and it really helps to present myself and my work effectively, creating engaging content and film, as well as partnering successfully with well-aligned brands. My work has a contemporary light, airy and design-led feel which works well with contemporary, elegant businesses targeting a high net worth client. A following through various social channels of 10k well-engaged customers also helps to build awareness of my collaborative projects.
I’m most proud of that I’ve followed the path that personally makes me happiest. I’ve built a life and career around places that make my heart happy and relaxed. I spend my day doing things I love! Life is short and I’m so glad I’m not wasting it staring out of an office window, wishing I was outside in all that weather!
This year, I’m excited to be exploring new ways to integrate my searching work and my art, taking inspiration from the historical finds I’m making here by the coast (Roman coins and pottery, Bronze Age tools, medieval coins and artefacts) and bringing some of the elements of their design and stylistic motif into my work. This searching work and the stories I’m discovering behind the objects, some thousands of years old, is helping me to connect in a new way to the coastal place where I live and work.
If you’re new to my work there are a number of places where you can follow my story and adventures as a travelling artist and searcher of objects and stories! My USA customers and followers are particularly intrigued by the objects I’m finding as the ancient historical nature of the UK brings ancient objects into my hands that can’t be found in the USA.
Instagram @ellieverrecchia_artist and @miss_detectorist
Web www.ellieverrecchia.co.uk
Youtube @miss_detectorist
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
It helps that I have a background in fashion and brand marketing. I understand the importance of strong visual identity and voice. Social media algorithms are fickle! They change frequently and its hard to keep up. I have decided not to be a slave to the algorithm instead relying on good old fashioned engaging content to keep my feeds relevant and nourishing. I’m a great believer in the good of social media to build community and nourish. It’s important to curate your feed and delete anything that isn’t authentic, and useful to you. So I try to make my feed welcoming, inclusive and natural, sharing beautiful places, my process and my true character to build a community that feels good by their connection to me and my work. It works both ways – I get a lot of encouragement and supportive interaction from my community, and heaps of opportunities for art residency, brand collaboration and exhibition also come my way through my connections on social media.
My advice to those just starting to build a presence is that empty follower numbers are meaningless. Don’t aim for high follower numbers alone. What you want are a core of meaningful clients who are there to engage with you and your work, and buy from you to support your practice. Be consistent, keep in touch, but don’t let social run your day. Instead find natural ways to make social part of your daily habits – when creating, get used to setting the phone up to film yourself and your process. Become comfortable talking about your work and going ‘live’ to talk to your community and show them what you make. I highly recommend an investment in visual brand identity – logo, colours, fonts, and design style. I’m a creative but I’m no graphic designer! I paid to have a pack created for me and its saved me time and ensured consistency in my feed that helps me convey a clear, clean message to my followers.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist and a searcher of objects is that it guides my adventure through life! I know that sounds deep, but it really means that I am present in observing the world around me, noticing its beauty, and finding out more about people that have moved here before us. I love to share that with my community of followers documenting my work and finds through film, photography and writing as much as through my painting. Life is short, and I’m keen to use it with a curious mind to find joy, make beautiful things, and learn about where I live.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ellieverrecchia.co.uk
- Instagram: @ellieverrecchia_artist @miss_detectorist (both are important!)
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EllieVerrecchiaArtist/
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ellie-verrecchia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@miss_detectorist