We were lucky to catch up with Gabriella Buckingham recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Gabriella thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

My life has been a slow journey to becoming the artist I’ve always known I am. I knew this was my path from a very young age; just not what form it would take. I loved ballet and acting too but gave both of those up by the time I was fifteen. The world of art and creativity is something I was always aware of. My father collects paintings so I was lucky enough to experience a world full of pictures when growing up in various homes in East Anglia. We moved a lot. At school, art was the subject I excelled at. I remember winning the art prize there one year and at the local village fete! Strangely, apart from constantly drawing through lessons I don’t remember doing any art at home, other than sketchbook homework and my parents didn’t keep anything I made when I was a child. It’s wonderful to be able to make a mess now as an adult. When I was fourteen I do recall that I stood at a flimsy wooden easel in my Laura Ashley patterned red bedroom, diligently copying Renoir’s ‘The Skiff’ with some old oils that someone must have given me, I thought that what I’d done was just like it!! It was probably dreadful, but it felt natural and joyful to me.

Here in the UK, if we want to go to art college after leaving school we usually spend a year on an art foundation course trying different disciplines. I did that at the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology. Some courses like that allow you to try numerous subjects. We could only pick three for the first term and then we had to pick just one for the final two. I chose graphics, painting, and fashion, all of which I loved and was told I had potential for. This is the point where life could have been so different.

I settled on graphics and then decided to apply for a degree course at Kingston Upon Thames. My tutor told me I was unlikely to get in as it was highly competitive and considered to be one of the top courses in the country. That only spurred me on to apply. Happily, I was accepted and left home to live in Surrey for the next few years. I wanted to do something from which I could earn a living, and I think the idea of the wild romantic life of a passionate painter I wanted to be, seemed completely impossible for me then. I had much to learn.

In my second year at art college, I knew graphic design wasn’t for me. After being told off for painting floral images for a brochure rather than designing its type, I asked to swap to the illustration stream. Fortunately, they agreed. For the next fifteen years, I earned my living painting romantic fiction and decorative editorial illustrations (initially in a watercolor acrylic style), I painted children’s books for the publisher Ladybird, art prints, wrapping paper, and hundreds of greeting cards, and even a public information film and a few portraits for BBC TV programs. I learned to paint far more as a jobbing illustrator than I ever did at college where we were left to our own devices, fulfilling briefs. Gradually my illustration style became more opaque and stronger. During the 1990s I also had a three-year stint as a Christmas card artist working for major retail accounts and then took a job as a greeting card product manager, commissioning other artists, which I left after two years, to return to freelancing. I married in 1998 and after having our first child we moved to Norfolk where I still live. While both my son and daughter grew up I started a children’s gift business, inspired by them, initially doing local fairs. I was talent-spotted by Notonthehighstreet.com and invited to open an online shop. For the next ten years, I was designing, hand painting and hand lettering personalized wooden gifts for Moobaacluck, occasionally punctuated with a fine art painting or an illustration job. It was exciting initially and I was proud of what I achieved selling to thousands of customers but actually, I’d created a minimum wage, highly labor-intensive job for myself. I wasn’t growing my art and after a few years, I wasn’t having much fun. It was as if I’d settled for less. It’s quite painful to feel that you’ve wasted so much time. So if I could go back to 2008 I would have a long hard think about what mattered to me personally and what my art could be; I would have faced what I desired and put the hours into that. However, I know that so much of what I made gave people joy, so it wasn’t a waste at all from that point of view, it also meant that I could be present every day for my children and be flexible when their father, who is freelance photographer, Tony Buckingham, had to be away. Though they both tease me, even now, that I wasn’t with them on some day trips away from home with Tony because I was ‘always working’!

This is the thing about being an artist. You love it, you are obsessed with it, live and breathe it. It’s the first thing on your mind as you wake up each day, excited about what might materialize. You give it your all. I have that passion and it wasn’t being directed in the right way. Finally, in 2018, I decided to take my art seriously. I joined a few online artist support groups and courses to connect with other artists. I set up a new Instagram account and booked my first art fair in Norwich in 2019. I took a part-time job to pay the bills and began!

Now I have sold my paintings worldwide, I teach Experimental Still-Life and other courses online, have a budding YouTube channel, and a presence in several galleries, have curated an exhibition for The Point Contemporary in Cromer run by artist Richard K Blades, and my work is currently in the Royal Academy gift shop in London after being hung in their famous Summer Exhibition. I view myself as an experimental painter and I am truly excited about all the possibilities there are for me and my work. It’s so hard to imagine how life might have been different had I studied Fine Art at art college. If I had my time again I would take that risk, but ultimately I’ve been through so much personal growth and learned a lot about business. The chances are that yes, I would be further along in my painting career but I certainly wouldn’t have connected with as many people through my work being in print over the last 30 years and I wouldn’t have experienced the wide variety of work I’ve had. I intend to live until I’m 100 and never stop working. This may sound strange but when I was fifteen I announced to my mother that I would marry when I was thirty, which I did. At the age of fifty, I gave myself a new lease of life and plan to make the most of it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As a painter, I’m inspired by color and feeling predominantly. Though I am more known for experimental still life painting I also love to paint intuitively which often results in abstract landscapes inspired by the Norfolk coast near where I live. Being in the open is always uplifting to me and puts life into perspective. I want to make work that connects with people emotionally but that can be as simple as the joy that a certain color combination can give, or it could be a hint of feeling or relationship between two objects that a viewer can relate to as, much as the wildness of a coastal scene that reminds someone of their own vitality. As humans we are multifaceted and as an artist I am too. I know that it’s more sensible to channel your work into one type of work, one approach, commercially but I resist that and I think a lot of artists do. Perhaps that will come through falling in love with one way of working for a while, and I hope it does. Then I’ll move on to the next thing. I think I’ll look back at my work at the end of my life and see the investigation and experimentation and be glad for it.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Earning a living has been challenging at times during my career as an artist. As I mentioned I took a part-time job to pay the bills while I made the transition to working as a painter. I worked in a supermarket for two years and suffered a back injury near the end. I knew I couldn’t stay there and I had to make money another way. Art sales alone aren’t necessarily regular. For a while I listened to Gay Hendricks reading out his book The Big Leap as I would do customer shopping. I took a course on how to launch a course and started a free Facebook group to connect with budding artists. I felt physically sick doing that – it felt terrifying, but I loved it! I launched my first on line course and I was able to leave the part time job and developed an entrepreneurial mindset. I don’t want to count up how much money I’ve spent on courses! I love to learn and I don’t give up. Things are getting better every year. Sometimes we can take detours, they are valuable and can be necessary. It’s very difficult to create from a place of fear that you can’t pay your mortgage. Do what it takes.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I wouldn’t say that I have a huge audience on social media. I used to worry about that but actually, I think that it means that it grows with me, as my work does, as I do. There’s room for improvement, simple things like making covers for my highlights so they look organized and making more reels, but I much prefer taking static photos. I think if you’re just starting as an artist you want a small and intimate audience. There is a lot to be said for growing gradually. Our work changes. People like to feel that they know you. Growing gradually means that your audience is more likely to understand you and your work, stick with you, and support you. We do have to be curators of our own work. One mistake I still make from time to time is sharing experimental work that I love only to ruin it later and get inquiries about buying it and having to own up. There’s a pressure to share everything and I’d advise against that. Wait a while or take process shots and save them. Consider what you post and what it’s saying about you. At the same time, it’s important to have fun and show your human side. Stories are great for that. If you love doing Reels – go for it. You will do well. I do not! The main thing on Instagram is to engage with other people. Make an effort to support others by commenting on their posts when you can. So many opportunities can come your way by relationship building. I tend not to worry about trends and algorithms, there isn’t enough time in the day. If you’re serious about growth at any point then learning how to do Facebook ads properly would be a good investment, rather than boosting posts which isn’t nearly as effective. Enjoy having a small following and if you’re at that stage get to know people. Find your core fans and co-supporters.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gabriellabuckingham.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabriellabuckingham
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/18h2Z4BhfG/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriella-buckingham-0263b915/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabriellabuckinghamart
• Other: my course platform: https://www.fromaplaceofwonder.co

  my teaching Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fromaplaceofwonder

Image Credits

Tony Buckingham