Friday 3rd October

I’ve managed 5 more reasonably large paintings.

I now have a collection and for now I think I’ll probably stop for now. I have painted Ullswater,  Grasmere,  Ennerdale Water, Derwentwater,  Wastwater,  Crummock Water,  Windermere, Buttermere, Loweswater and Elterwater. I may do a few more small ones. I have a lot of varnishing to do.

I have really enjoyed doing them in oils but my studio and party shed is now so full of artwork, I can hardly move around.

My calendars arrive last week and are now available to buy at £15 including p&p or £12 if no postage involved.

I had a good catch up this week with Andy and Sue Fairhurst who are up here on holiday. They have been keen readers of my blog for many years. They are also family and we have a lot to talk about. We ended up in “The Potting Shed” at The Greys with the log burner going and a few beers were sunk.

I also delivered a commission received during AITG this week and confirmed another one of Embleton Bay.

A couple of years ago I blogged about a guy who was making money from doing badly drawn pets. As I said at the time, they are funny. I even did a few myself?

I came across another article this week who was in demand for badly drawn people after receiving Radio and TV coverage of his awful artwork.

A self-confessed "terrible" artist said he has received hundreds of commissions after attracting national and international media attention in January.

Jamie Lee Matthius, from Alsager in Cheshire, presented his wife with a poster-paint canvas in May 2024 to celebrate their wedding.

The joke soon escalated, however, with Mr Matthias telling BBC Radio Stoke at the start of this year he had since taken dozens of orders.

About nine months later, he has shipped worldwide, receiving about 280 orders in total.

"I seem to be painting most weeks, actually, it's been absolutely crazy," he said.

His painting attracted attention from national press as well as television channels in the US and Europe.

Mr Matthias said he had grown a particularly strong customer base for his side hustle in Taiwan.

"I was expecting nothing – we thought we'd maybe sell a few, at best, to family and friends," he explained.

He said "by far the worst one" was the wedding picture of himself and his wife, which she had eventually agreed to hang on their wall at home.

"It was to prove a point – because she suggested no-one else would want anything that bad in their living room," he said.

"She wouldn't hang it, so it was a bit of a joke and a bit of banter."

He said he had been asked to paint a variety of subjects – including someone's recently-deceased relative, children's school photos and animals.

"I enjoy doing it as a hobby and I find it relaxing," Mr Matthius said. "I still can't believe people order."

His artwork has led to him appearing on The Kelly Clarkson Show in the US and Channel 4's The Last Leg in the UK - which he said had been his favourite TV experience.

He said: "To go on there and get absolutely rinsed on telly was absolutely hilarious, definitely a highlight of the year."

They are terrible and it always amazes me what people are prepared to spend their money on. It also makes me angry that I didn’t do it first, under a pseudonym of course. I know “Naïve “ painting is a popular genre in art but this takes the biscuit.