A life in a day by Ken Devine

Ken Devine was born in Sunderland in 1952 and was educated in Reigate, Surrey. Owner of the Frederick St. Gallery in Sunderland City Centre.

Ken Devine was born in Sunderland in 1952 and was educated in Reigate, Surrey. Owner of the Frederick St. Gallery in Sunderland City Centre. Open a framing workshop in rural Nottinghamshire. Became one of the first in the UK to qualify as a Fine Art Trade Guild Commended Framer.

But his heart was in painting so he and his wife, Bev, sold their business. That allowed Ken to concentrate on his own art. Genesis Fine Arts was the first company to distribute his paintings nationwide. Lived 5 years in France before coming back to Sunderland to open a gallery “as near to where I was born as possible”.

Interview:

I absolutely love to wake up early, unfortunately my wife likes to wake up later. I am the morning person in the house which means I am the sharpest in the morning. There is something very calming in watching the sunrise. But we as a couple had to find a kind of dance over the years.

I always have good intentions for the rest of the day. But not everything wins out. I have a business to run and sometimes I have so many things to do that the day just goes by pretty quickly.

For me there is no such thing as a typical day. My life is not a factory where you need to clock in and go to your work station. But I do have a routine.

Breakfast is the most important meal, no doubt, because for me lunch time is not a guarantee. I never eat the same thing for breakfast. For me it would be boring not to change things around. I like to have a combination of fruits in the blender sometimes. It is very healthy! But I do love to have a really good fry up, totally unhealthy. At least once a month! And I don´t love the English breakfast. I lived in France for five years and I got used to not eating like a British person. Here in England we eat super unhealthy, I mean, we eat all the wrong things.

After eating I always head up for the gallery which is where I spend my day. And I love. It is my dream job. I never know who is going to step up through the door so my days are super unpredictable. I have to be in the gallery two hours before opening time. Everyday.

I need to clear the steps outside because they need to be safe from leaves, ice, all kinds of rubbish. One morning I was clearing the stairway and I saw in the corner of my eyes a very tall gentleman and then in the next second he fell in the pavement! And he caught his head on the corner and there was blood everywhere. I had to help him to get an ambulance and clean the blood of my stairs.

I also need to clean the floor and the windows. Every single day. You wouldn't believe would you that I am a cleaner as well. Checking the paintings in the gallery is also super important because something could´ve fell in the middle of the night or some art could´ve been stolen. Although I don´t have a lot of robberies around here.

Now in days every business needs to keep up with the internet and social media. Me being 66 years old and needing to post pictures on Instagram, answer emails and check Facebook is kind of a fun thing. Of course, I learn it all alone too. And I need to do it regularly throughout the day too.

The rest of day is a blur honestly. I really just need to take care of the gallery.

I take an interest in talking to every person that comes in, get to know them and their interests. I think it is important to meet our community, I mean I was born just a couple of houses from this gallery and it is always fun to meet new faces. Although being born near here I didn't spent much time around because I was educated near Surrey and then after that I just moved around the country.

We also have schools coming in and visiting the gallery for the exhibitions. It is one of my favourite things because when I started my career in Patching’s Art Centre (2001) I taught a few art classes myself. I really enjoyed being involved with that project.

Our art is up for sale too so sometimes I need to deal with people buying it. Artists come here almost all days to discuss art or to sell some of their painting. The paper work for that is – can I use a bad word? – a pain in the ass. The forms are very detailed.

My gallery is also my art studio. Well I am supposed to paint all days. But that isn´t what always happens. But I try to! But I never have any kind of routine when it comes to art. The hardest thing for any artist and I don´t care who they are, is to pick up a brush. But then the hardest thing after that is to put it back down. When I am about to paint I always tell myself to just do it and do it right now. And that gets me to pick the brush. I have no idea what sparked my interest in art but my wife tells me I probably was born with the art bug.

I always loved art! My first business was opening a framing gallery in Nottinghamshire where I would sell other artists paintings. I closed that business once I realised that I really wanted to try to paint myself.

I have been trying to improve in my art and so I took up a mission to create one painting daily and that is been really good for me as a painter. I have learned a lot about fine art itself but mostly about myself and my weakness and strengths. A lot of them to do with lack of discipline.

The gallery closes at 7pm and after that I go straight home.

I never entirely switch off, it has to be said, but not often I think too much about work.

Recently I have a challenge of my own which is to set 5 goals outside of what I would normally do and it is things that I never managed to do yet. One of those goals is to read five books that have been made into movies. So, when I get home I normally read.

I also write a journal every day and work on my personal history which is a biographical tale of me.

I do like to sit down at some point and be entertained by the news as opposed to reading it on the internet. We never go out to the movies or theatre because life is just busy but also because me and my wife are renovating the house right now. And so, we talk about it every evening lately.

I normally go to bed around 10pm. That is a routine I usually stick to. If my day was productive and creative I can say I got a good time.