Former salesman and lockdown artist from Inverness sets up stall in the Loch Ness Clansman Hotel
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When an Inverness salesman was made redundant as a result of the Covid pandemic he made what his family thought was a bold career move.
At the start of lockdown he decided that he wanted to try his hand at painting and, when he found it difficult to land another sales job, he decided that was what he wanted to do full-time.
Jon Grant (46) has spent the previous 23 years on the road selling souvenirs and postcards, most recently for the Stirling Gallery, and his patch covered the Highlands, the North Coast 500 route, Inverness and Skye.
However, he was made redundant at the end of last year and he said Covid had “knocked the tourist industry for six”. He added: “I only started painting at the start of the pandemic – the day before lockdown I had the mad notion and thought ‘I will try painting’. I thought it might be therapeutic.”
Initially, he searched online for lessons but he said he found them off putting because they made it look too easy.
He said his work was a mixture of contemporary styles, abstract subjects, as well as scenes copied from photographs and even the postcards he used to sell.
“Everybody just loves the Highland cows – even the rainbow ones,” he said.
Mr Grant said that paintings of thistles were also popular. His brother-in-law originally suggested that he had enough work for an exhibition.
Since the week before Easter, he has been based at the Loch Ness Clansman Hotel and in that time he has managed to sell 600 paintings to passing tourists.
He said when he was in his previous job, the hotel was one of his top customers and he decided to approach them to see if they were interested in him being based there.
“The location is great and I knew the people so well so I asked the question,” he added.
Mr Grant said his paintings sold for between £10 and £100.
Willie Cameron, the business development director of Cobbs Group which runs the hotel, said they described it as the only hotel on the banks of Loch Ness and added: “He is the Banksy of Loch Ness.”
