A BIRCHWOOD craftsmen turned artist has showcased his work to the people of Warrington for the first time and believes part of his gift lies within his dyslexia.
Sean Sutherland began creating art in 2018 but says it was ‘always within him’ to paint.
And his collection of landscape and nature canvases were displayed in his first ever open exhibition last Sunday, 23, held at his wife’s café, The Red Telephone Box Tearoom in Birchwood.
The 55-year-old who still works full time in his trade as a furniture maker said he was ‘excited’ for the exhibition and to show off his work, with his paintings featuring both local and world-wide scenery.
He said: “It went really well on Sunday; it was a nice gentle footfall and I had chance to speak to people individually about the paintings.
“It was all positive feedback; I think people were surprised at how realistic the paintings are and were amazed by the detail.”
Sean explained how his style of art is to create a life-like picture based on photographs using oil paints to bring the image to life.
One of his largest canvas paintings being the ‘iconic’ scene of Lymm Dam.
With another realistic scene he painted from Lake Windemere ending up in virtual show in New York by a well-known pianist who writes music to artwork.
Aiming to paint for three or four hours a day, he said how his chosen window of time to paint is usually between the hours of 9pm through to 1am, which he explains is the time of day when the brain is at its most creative.
“I follow a lot of amateur photographers and I promote their work and they do the same for me. I try to choose different places in the world to paint, it is about evoking a response from within people.
“There is one painting in Iceland I did based off a photograph, and it is the centre of a lake, you could never necessarily go there but it is a scene you can look at in detail through the painting and that is part of the beauty of painting a photograph.”
And the self-taught artist believes being dyslexic has helped him become the creative person he is today.
“Being dyslexic, you don’t focus well on the normal day to day subjects, English has always been a tough subject for me. When this side of the brain doesn’t work so well the creative side becomes heightened. It makes me more creative, many famous creators like Leonardo da Vinci were dyslexic too.
“I think it shows people that even if you have a disability or a learning difficulty, you can still achieve anything.”
Sean also attributes much of his skill to his ‘problem solving mind’ and ‘attention to detail’ and has recently begun to produce prints of his work to be sold.
Prior to his 30 years working in the furniture making trade, Sean served in the Royal Airforce as a young 17-year-old in the catering squadron and served royalty during his three and a half years.
And he is hoping to drop his working hours next year to spend more time focusing on his artwork.
He said: “For young people who want to be artists, do art because you love it, not just because you do it. If you aspire to be an artist, it is observation, keep on going at it don’t give up.”
To look at more of Seans work or to reach out to him about a commission visit his Instagram page @seansutherlandart
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here