AS this year’s h.Art week came to a close, one artist has been left slightly stunned but utterly delighted by the success of his exhibition.

David Barnes, who sold more than 20 paintings in the course of h.Art week and attracted the attention of other galleries, has been painting seriously for less than two years and only picked up a paintbrush six years ago.

“But I do have one relevant qualification,” he says. “I did get an Art O-Level, though the official body of my profession (David spent his working life as a chartered accountant) doesn’t recognise it.”

His continuing interest in art, principally as a purchaser, took him into Steve Davies’s Tidal Wave Gallery last year and when the two fell into conversation, David revealed that he painted a little.

“Steve suggested I bring some of my paintings in for him to have a look at. He liked the three I took in, hung them in the gallery and they sold very quickly.”

A private view of more paintings at the home of Liz Pitman resulted in more sales and, with Liz’s encouragement, David decided that he’d like to be part of h.Art.

The initial plan was once again to hold the exhibition at Liz’s Hereford home, but another conversation with Steve resulted in him inviting David to exhibit during h.Art week at Tidal Wave.

The private view on the opening evening gave a hint of what was to follow, with at least 80 people visiting Tidal Wave and several paintings sold.

“It’s been so much better than any of us expected,” says Steve, who is excited to have introduced David’s talent to Hereford.

“I think we’ve all been taken by surprise, perhaps because David’s subjects are the landscape and coast of North Wales and we’re in landlocked Hereford.”

“If Liz hadn’t pushed and encouraged me,” says David, “I might not have pursued my painting, but it has made me think about how much latent talent there is that goes unrecognised in ourselves or in each other.

“Together with Steve, we make three legs of a stool – none of this would have happened without any one of us.”

It was six years ago that David picked up a paintbrush for the first time since leaving school, prompted by visiting an exhibition by Sir Kyffin Williams at Cardiff’s Albany Gallery.

“I went with a view to buying a painting,” David explains. “I knew it was going to cost me in the thousands, but the cheapest painting was £36,000 and the one I wanted was £60,000. I wasn’t going to spend that sort of money and decided that I’d learn to paint like that instead.”

Though David had no formal art training, he has now joined an art class, which he has found invaluable in improving his technique and teaching him about colour mixing and tonality, which he believes are key to his success. “I only need four colours and white, which has been a revelation.”

David’s work will be on display again at Tidal Wave from mid-November in an exhibition featuring his work alongside watercolours and acrylics from two other Welsh artists.

David is not the only one to have enjoyed a great week, with artists throughout Herefordshire reporting a successful h.Art 2008 with increased visitor numbers and sales.