William J Connolly

After many years putting on my suit and living the life I was expected to lead (qualified in marketing & finance - tied to a desk - you know the story) one day, about two years ago, depressed in a West London restaurant a friend if mine aware of my growing unhappiness asked me a question: ‘What would you be doing if you had unlimited money and could spend your days doing anything you desired?’ ‘That’s an easy one, I replied, I’d be painting’. ‘Well, do that’ he said matter a factly.

I had always loved painting, my dad was a wonderful painter and his uncle Thurlow Connolly was a well know painter in Dublin in the 1920/30’s. I had painted with my dad in the kerry mountains but never thought of ‘painting’ as a ‘job’.

Back to my friends question. Within two months I had sold most of my ‘lifestyle’ possessions and put together enough money to support myself for a year. I moved out of my nice surburban house in leafy Ealing and moved into a small well lit garden studio in North West London. I painted six days a week for that year painting more than one hundred oil and acrylic abstract paintings. And then, as with so many artists I realised I had no money left. I heard about a government small business grant, took some of my art to a local government building and happily they loved my art and said ‘okay, but now you must start selling it’.

Somewhere in there I developed a real passion for digital art. My love of art has always been about colours and how there interaction makes me feel. Using paint I always had this feeling of never quite getting the colours exactly as I wanted them. Using the digital medium ment I could spend hours playing with the colours in my art to get them ‘exactly’ as I want them to be. I also dabble in the art of portrait photography and going digital ment I could develop my skills in ‘abstract portrait art’ of which I have done many pieces including personalised abstract portraits for friends with the intention of doing these for my clients.

william@wconnollyart.com