Hello, My name is Jack Greenwood.

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​I gave up on art more than twenty years ago. I'd wanted to be an artist since I was little, but I was always very hyperactive with a short attention span, little patience and no self-confidence.

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​I was an odd child, I struggled with the idea that I was on a planet spinning round in space, felt alien and didn't fit in well with people.

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I avoided school as much as possible and by the time I was fourteen years old, I stopped attending altogether.

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I didn't turn up to sit any of my exams but still managed to get an unconditional place on a first diploma in art and design.

I was not used to being academic or having structure in my life and due to that and lots of other problems, I dropped out.

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My tutor was very kind and persuaded me to return the following year. I was not a good student though and was lucky to scrape by with a pass.

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I next got an unconditional place on a foundation in art and design, but only lasted around a month before dropping out.

 

My mental health wasn't the greatest, which wasn't new. The normal routines and interactions which other people seemed to just get on with were almost impossible for me.

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Even though other people saw creative potential in me, I couldn't see it in myself. I had no confidence or self-belief and gave up on art.

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Twenty years followed of being stuck in dead end jobs, somehow managing to pass for a person like other people.

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Eventually I got a bit better at life, broke away and started my own little gardening maintenance business. This was a turning point for me. I'd finally managed to put a lot of problems behind me and carved out my own modest place in the world.

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This felt like such a blessing at the time. I now worked for myself, was out in nature all day and didn't have to work with other people...Bliss.

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Still, I felt like something was missing and as much as I liked gardening, unfulfilled dreams began nagging at me. I finally decided to pick up a paintbrush again.

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This time with art, I was a little wiser, had a lot more patience and promised myself I wouldn't give up on it.

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I had taught myself how cope with life better. With meditation and ploughing through a lot of spiritual books I had strangely somehow become quite a balanced functioning human.

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The day before Christmas eve 2019 my girlfriend was making a card for her mother, so I went into the other room and did two quick paintings. One of our dog and one of our cat, who had passed away earlier in the year. Once finished, I brought them out and gave them to her as an early Christmas present. She was overwhelmed and loved them. She shared them online and a lot of people seemed to like them.

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That was an amazing moment for me, I felt for the first time in my life that I could actually call myself an artist.

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Life is strange, it's been a rocky road, but I'm finally in a place where I look forward to each day. I'm a couple of steps further down that yellow brick road and that childhood dream of becoming an artist is now a reality.

I appreciate every day I get to paint.

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I'm 47 years old, I grew up in Bradford, West Yorkshire then lived in London For twenty one years and now live in Somerset, UK with my partner Bella and our little rescue dog Oma.