WHEN Errol Dyer from Clows Top near Kidderminster retired five years ago, after working as a financial advisor for two decades, he started looking around for a hobby to keep him busy.

He tried golf, photography and even star-gazing but none of them struck a chord. He admits he’s not much of a DIY enthusiast – the curtain rail he put up in his sitting room visibly sags in the middle – and his wife was very keen to recruit him in the garden. That too was greeted with a certain level of indifference.

Then, a couple of years ago, his family bought him a one-day art course, which he attended, and he was hooked. Since then the 74-year-old has immersed himself in his new found passion, learning more and more about art, experimenting with different techniques and effects, and producing scores of paintings.

And, after entering a national competition, last month was awarded the Society of All Artists (SAA) Artist of the Year June Atherton Beginners Award 2017 for his painting entitled “Hare with Attitude”.

Errol said: “I spent the last 20 years of my life as a financial advisor based in Cleobury Mortimer. I sold my business and I did not know what to do.

“You can only dig so many holes and cut down so many trees,” he said, referring to his forays into the garden. “Then this art course came up and I got hooked. I did some art on the one-day course but I knew I could do more and I started buying paints.”

Errol, who is from India, did art at school but nothing since then until attending the one-day course, although he clearly has an affinity with the arts. He spent the early part of his working life in the 1960s as a musician, playing keyboards in a band called Mixed Fruit – a nod to the band members who were all from different countries.

In fact, it was the only band to play at the wedding of Mick Jagger to his first wife Bianca in the south of France, said Errol. The band just happened to be touring in that area, he added nonchalantly.

But Errol’s latest interest in the arts has given his life a new meaning, he said. He started joining classes run in Kidderminster, Bewdley, Tenbury and then Worcester. Some of them were like little workshops with someone guiding them.

“I was trying to find my niche. Until I got to Tenbury, I was lost. I did not like people telling me what to do. They might want everyone to do trees one day and I didn’t want to. I wanted to do what I wanted to do. In Tenbury, it is lovely. I got along well with everyone there.”

Then he joined Worcester Society of Artists. “In the Worcester club they have some really good artists and it is drawing me upwards. You are learning more skills. I am learning as I go along,” he enthused.

He became a member of the SAA, a national group for all artists in the UK and abroad. It holds an annual competition for artists of all skills and it has a number of different categories - Errol decided to enter two of his pictures.

One of those pictures was called “Hare with Attitude”. Errol had shown the painting at his first exhibition, which was in Tenbury Wells, and a visitor walked into the event and immediately bought it.

“Apparently there were 5,000 paintings entered into the competition. I did not know anything about the categories.” The SAA contacted Errol to say the hare had reached the last round of judging and when he came back from holiday last month there was a letter waiting telling him he’s won the beginner’s category.

However, to verify that it was Errol’s painting, the SAA needed to see the original. “I did not know who had bought it,” he said. But one of Errol’s contacts at Tenbury knew who had acquired the hare and the owners were happy to loan it for the sake of the competition.

“I am on cloud nine,” said the amateur artist, who has now turned an office in his house into a studio where he paints most afternoons. Apart from the accolade, Errol received £500 of art materials.

The “Hare with Attitude” is now being exhibited, with all the other SAA award winners for 2017, at the society’s HQ in Newark, Nottinghamshire. It will also be shown at the prestigious ICHF Artist Material event at Birmingham’s NEC from Thursday November 2 to Sunday November 5, which is expected to attract tens of thousands of visitors.

“I never dreamt I would be an artist but I think I can say I am an artist now,” said Errol, who works with acrylic paint and describes his pieces as impressionism although he is moving towards abstract.

“For me to find what I like to do took quite a while,” he said. But once he knew where his passion lay, he threw himself into it wholeheartedly.

Despite winning such a highly prized award at his first attempt, Errol said art for him is a constant learning curve.

“All I can do it keep painting. It gives my life some meaning. I really feel I need to live a little longer to get another painting out.”

He also enjoys others’ appreciation of his work. “I get quite a kick out of people buying them. Some people do not like selling their paintings. I sold about six or eight paintings in the last year and some friends have asked me to do commissions.”

Painting also helps to calm him, he said. He always paints with music – usually jazz - playing in the background. “Somehow it has given a reason for my living. I spent 10 years as a musician and made one album – that’s not good. I spent 20 years managing people’s money. But with art, I am leaving something behind – someone somewhere will have one of my paintings and the paintings mean something to me.

“I have three children and my daughter Michelle used to be the artist in the family but now I think I am giving her a run for her money.”

  • Worcester Society of Artists is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year and is holding an exhibition at the Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum from Saturday September 16 to Saturday October 28. For more information about the society visit www.worcesterart.co.uk