Mim Aylett
Surviving as a self employed artist
Surviving as a self employed artist
A mile out of Wadebridge in North Cornwall is the beautiful Trevilder Cottage. Surrounded by fields, it’s the ideal setting for local artist Mim Aylett to lose herself in creativity. Her studio, built in the garden, is filled with paints, canvas’s, work in progress, and an amazing array of finished paintings. With the addition of a heater, music, and a couple of comfy chairs, it’s the perfect space to create her art.
Mim specialises in landscapes and portraits in oil. Her vibrant, richly coloured paintings have a spiritual feel about them. The creation of her art, Mim says “is triggered by emotion, intuition and an appreciation of the beauty of nature.”
Mim graduated in Humanities and Fine Art, in 1986, and moved to London to develop an exciting career as a specialist decorator, working for clients including; Claridges Hotel, the National portrait gallery, the Sultan of Brunei, and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. She became well known for her paint finishes, marbling, wood graining, and murals, as well as her ability to be able to mix colours to match any colour.
In 1992, Mim moved back to Cornwall, her childhood home, to start a family with her husband Andy. Together they set up their own specialist decorating firm; Palmer and Palmer. As they became better known, they found themselves in the position of being able to take on employees. One of their many commissions was producing wood panels painted with iconic cinema images, such as Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, and finished with a marbling effect for the Plaza cinema in Truro.
Although Palmer and Palmer were successful, the marriage wasn’t going so well. After splitting up with Andy, Mim found she couldn’t manage the business on her own. It was then she returned to painting, she says “as a means of emotional and spiritual survival.” She spent a lot of time out in the open air staring at the sky, painting what she could see. She felt it helped her “to stop looking inside and start looking outside.”
She would often close her eyes, take two brushes, and just let them move over the wood. “I would let the energy flow down my arm,” says Mim. She was amazed at the results; she clearly drew figures and spiritually significant animals, without consciously doing so. Mim felt that painting helped her understand who she was, and helped her through a lost and chaotic time.
With her growth of confidence Mim’s pictures became bigger, and she expanded her repertoire to include seascapes, angels and flowers. Due to a lack of money for materials, she painted on off cuts of medium density fibreboard (MDF), and was able to produce paintings in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some of her most popular paintings at the time were painted on long, tall, triangular shapes. In order to sell her paintings she started to display her work at exhibitions, and at her first one she sold six of her paintings.
As her painting evolved Mim discovered canvas’s being sold at an affordable price. She described painting on canvas for the first time as “a big step on psychologically from painting on wood.” At first, presented with a beautiful white canvas, she found herself walking around a lot, too scared to make the first mark. She felt “painting on canvas was Art with a capital A.”
Becoming more confident painting on canvas, Mim began to paint lots of portraits; returning to landscapes in financially tight periods, as they are more likely to sell. Sometimes her paintings are planned but mostly they’re not, and she prefers not to be swayed by market forces, instead letting the paintings come to her. She says “The canvas decides, the energy of the day decides, sometimes I’ll be going to paint a landscape and end up doing a portrait.” Mim also describes herself as a binge painter, as some days she finds painting really difficult, and feels she’s not satisfied with any mark she makes. While on other days she may stay in her studio all day, and paint 3 or 4 pieces.
As Art has helped her spiritual growth, she has fed her spirituality in other ways, which complement her art. Over the past few years, she has also worked on gaining her Reiki Masters, and a Diploma in Past Life Therapy. Last year she discovered she had a gift for painting people’s spirit guides, after painting one for a healer who knew what their spirit guide looked like. She say’s “I tune into your energy and with loving help from my guides and yours, a portrait is created of the Spirit who walks by your side.”
She is now able to offer these services alongside her art. The peaceful countryside setting of Trevilder cottage is ideal, for receiving the healing energy of Reiki, or having a spirit guide painted. The whole place has a friendly and relaxing feel about it. It’s by no means easy making a living working for yourself, however Mim seems to be doing all the right things to keep a sustainable business running.
If you live or are holidaying in Cornwall, you can go along and see Mim’s paintings at her exhibition at the Rock institute near Wadebridge running from September the 28th to the 30th.
Mim specialises in landscapes and portraits in oil. Her vibrant, richly coloured paintings have a spiritual feel about them. The creation of her art, Mim says “is triggered by emotion, intuition and an appreciation of the beauty of nature.”
Mim graduated in Humanities and Fine Art, in 1986, and moved to London to develop an exciting career as a specialist decorator, working for clients including; Claridges Hotel, the National portrait gallery, the Sultan of Brunei, and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. She became well known for her paint finishes, marbling, wood graining, and murals, as well as her ability to be able to mix colours to match any colour.
In 1992, Mim moved back to Cornwall, her childhood home, to start a family with her husband Andy. Together they set up their own specialist decorating firm; Palmer and Palmer. As they became better known, they found themselves in the position of being able to take on employees. One of their many commissions was producing wood panels painted with iconic cinema images, such as Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, and finished with a marbling effect for the Plaza cinema in Truro.
Although Palmer and Palmer were successful, the marriage wasn’t going so well. After splitting up with Andy, Mim found she couldn’t manage the business on her own. It was then she returned to painting, she says “as a means of emotional and spiritual survival.” She spent a lot of time out in the open air staring at the sky, painting what she could see. She felt it helped her “to stop looking inside and start looking outside.”
She would often close her eyes, take two brushes, and just let them move over the wood. “I would let the energy flow down my arm,” says Mim. She was amazed at the results; she clearly drew figures and spiritually significant animals, without consciously doing so. Mim felt that painting helped her understand who she was, and helped her through a lost and chaotic time.
With her growth of confidence Mim’s pictures became bigger, and she expanded her repertoire to include seascapes, angels and flowers. Due to a lack of money for materials, she painted on off cuts of medium density fibreboard (MDF), and was able to produce paintings in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some of her most popular paintings at the time were painted on long, tall, triangular shapes. In order to sell her paintings she started to display her work at exhibitions, and at her first one she sold six of her paintings.
As her painting evolved Mim discovered canvas’s being sold at an affordable price. She described painting on canvas for the first time as “a big step on psychologically from painting on wood.” At first, presented with a beautiful white canvas, she found herself walking around a lot, too scared to make the first mark. She felt “painting on canvas was Art with a capital A.”
Becoming more confident painting on canvas, Mim began to paint lots of portraits; returning to landscapes in financially tight periods, as they are more likely to sell. Sometimes her paintings are planned but mostly they’re not, and she prefers not to be swayed by market forces, instead letting the paintings come to her. She says “The canvas decides, the energy of the day decides, sometimes I’ll be going to paint a landscape and end up doing a portrait.” Mim also describes herself as a binge painter, as some days she finds painting really difficult, and feels she’s not satisfied with any mark she makes. While on other days she may stay in her studio all day, and paint 3 or 4 pieces.
As Art has helped her spiritual growth, she has fed her spirituality in other ways, which complement her art. Over the past few years, she has also worked on gaining her Reiki Masters, and a Diploma in Past Life Therapy. Last year she discovered she had a gift for painting people’s spirit guides, after painting one for a healer who knew what their spirit guide looked like. She say’s “I tune into your energy and with loving help from my guides and yours, a portrait is created of the Spirit who walks by your side.”
She is now able to offer these services alongside her art. The peaceful countryside setting of Trevilder cottage is ideal, for receiving the healing energy of Reiki, or having a spirit guide painted. The whole place has a friendly and relaxing feel about it. It’s by no means easy making a living working for yourself, however Mim seems to be doing all the right things to keep a sustainable business running.
If you live or are holidaying in Cornwall, you can go along and see Mim’s paintings at her exhibition at the Rock institute near Wadebridge running from September the 28th to the 30th.
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