A New Life: Artist Steve Browning tells Claire O'Connell that not getting on a degree course was a stroke of luck
Many people who lose interest in work simply continue to grind through the boredom of a job that has lost its sparkle. But for Steve Browning, becoming disillusioned spurred him on to try new and varied careers ranging from aeronautics through to the fast-paced world of advertising and on to become a professional artist.
The Londoner left school at 16 and did an apprenticeship in the aeronautics industry. "I was always interested in planes and I ended up doing electronics involving planes, avionics," he says.
But he soon felt something was missing. "You end up being on a conveyor belt of what is expected of you and you are on this treadmill, but I always wanted to do something different," he says. "There came a time when I had to make a decision what I would do, stick with avionics or try something different as I was still relatively young."
Keeping his job prospects in mind he applied to do a degree in electronics, but is thankful now that his application was unsuccessful. "Luckily I got turned down for that and I said blast this, I am just going to do something that I really like."
Browning had excelled at art in school and had kept up painting as a hobby, so he did a degree course in graphic design. "It was one of the best things I ever did, going back into full-time education. I had a fantastic time," he recalls.
Part of the course involved visiting top advertising agencies to see how they worked, and Browning was instantly attracted. "I went there and it was like someone turned the light on and I knew this was where I wanted to be," he says. "I really got hooked on to it."
After getting his degree, which he packed away and never looked at again, Browning spent three hard months "living in a bedsit and banging on agency doors" in London, showing them ideas.
Eventually, he got a break in the legendary agency Gold Greenlees Trott, where he spent the next 18 months learning from the masters about the thrilling and competitive world of advertising. "It was a great learning process and you learned quickly or you were out the door," says Browning. His training had earned him the job title of art director, but in practice everyone worked together on the team, devising campaigns in a creative environment.
He continued his career in advertising in London into the 1990s, working on campaigns selling beer, nappies and even changing the public's perception of car crime.
During this period he met his Galway-born future wife Eilish at a wedding. And after almost three years of travelling across the Irish Sea to visit each other, Browning moved to Dublin and secured a job in advertising while Eilish worked as a nurse.
But Browning was growing disillusioned with the advertising scene. The buzz was wearing off. "You come to a point where you are going into work and you start dreading it," he says. "I thought what am I going to do in 10 or 15 years' time, I need to make a decision now."
Since moving to Ireland he had rekindled his interest in painting, so he took the plunge and left advertising to pursue his artistic talents. "If you go for it, you might as well go for it 100 per cent, so we turned the back room into my studio and I worked on it full-time," he says.
At first it was tough. "You are stuck in the back room, there's snow outside, you are freezing cold, painting away," he says, recalling initial rejections from galleries. But then he had a painting accepted in the prestigious Royal Hibernian Academy's annual exhibition.
"That gave me a boost, a bit of recognition from your peers - you need that little bit of ego massage just to keep your confidence going."
He also built up his sales at art weekends around Stephen's Green in Dublin. "It started to click," says Browning. And in a rewarding turnaround, galleries were now noticing his landscapes and cityscapes. "Last year things really started to pick up. I have limited myself to the number of galleries I'm in because time is limited."
Browning now divides his time between painting pictures and parenting the couple's young twins, Emily and Lucca. Initially he looked after them all the time and painted while they napped. "But then I needed to do more painting - it was getting serious now as opposed to semi-serious. So this year we got a fantastic childminder who comes in for four hours three days a week. I wanted somebody to come to the house so I can be here, I wanted to be around them," he says.
And when Eilish comes home from her work as director of nursing in St James's Hospital, she recharges with the children while Steve can do some more painting. "It's a cliche but it's a good balance," he says. "And Eilish and the kids are the best things that have ever happened to me.
"I think back to what was happening four or five years ago where I was just not happy, I didn't like going into work," he says.
"And here I am earning decent money and I have got two fantastic kids, I am my own boss and painting isn't a chore, it is great fun. I am very lucky."