Aimee Shardlow: Fine Art Graduate starts her own business

My name’s Aimee Shardlow. I am a landscape painter. I’ve just graduated from my third year in fine art, and I'm trying to set up a little business for myself with my art.  

I paint seascapes, a bit abstract, a confused look at time and perception.  

I'm originally from southeast London, and the move down here was during Covid. It was tricky to do that move because I'd never been to Falmouth before, and I just immediately fell in love with it. 

The course was just fantastic, and the opportunities that came through it, like I've done residencies in Cyprus with the university. If I hadn't come here, it wouldn't have happened. Much to my mum’s dismay, I think I'll be staying here! I love it too much down here, and it's where my art is based, so I just don't see the point in going somewhere else. Coming to Falmouth gave me the chance to focus, to make painting more enjoyable for me. 

I’ve spent a lot of time in St. Ives -- two weeks residency at Portsmouth Studios through the university. My tutor recommended that I speak to a few artists in the area, so I met some local Cornish artists, and we went to the beach and painted together, which was fantastic. 

I can't remember who said it to me, but someone said, ‘why can't you do something with your art?’ No one's ever really posed that question to me. It's always been, ‘your art is great, but what are you going to do after that?’ I just thought, well, what if I did something with it? Then speaking to some of the local artists gave me that kind of glimmer of hope, a little bit of confidence that I can go off and do something with it. Then when people start buying it, you think... this might work. That's when I reached out to Marcus Simmons. 

Marcus is one of the business support coaches at Launchpad Futures and is just fantastic at giving people advice and help.  

It came through as an email about business support after or during your university course. I thought - this doesn't really feel like something that I would usually go for.  

But again - you never know what's going to happen. I replied and then I spoke to Marcus, he was just getting to know my art as well and asked me what I wanted to do. He gave me tips which meant that I could begin to sell my work. 

I applied for the Enterprise Enabling fund, and I got an amount to help start up my website. Without that, I wouldn’t have been able to do it because things are expensive. It’s nice to have the support, but also nice to have someone in your corner. 

My art tutors at the university were fantastic. They supported my actual art. But Marcus really supported the business side, who to approach, how to contact people, sending emails, setting up this website. I’ve had many messages on Instagram from random people in the area saying they really like my website and will keep an eye on it. 

But yeah, but if I hadn't seen that email, I wouldn't be sat here right now. I probably would be back home in London, which is quite sad if you think about it. You never know what is or isn’t going to help so my biggest advice is to check and reply to the emails!  

You're never going to know unless you try. I know a lot of people that really like painting, but never did anything with it. This doesn't have to be a career. It doesn't have to be anything. But if it's something that you love and enjoy, why wouldn't you take it further?  

If you're having the support come through, check the emails, reply and say yes to things that you think usually are a bit scary. In my final year, I was throwing my name down for everything and getting on the bus at 7 a.m. to go to St. Ives, and I was like, what am I doing?!  

But it was just fantastic. 

I'd love to get in to some more galleries, that's something Marcus is trying to help me do at the minute. Sending emails, getting my name out, ideally to be able to quit my 9 to 5 and be able to do this would be my absolute dream. I assume that this is going to take a few years and I'm okay with that, as long as eventually it can happen. You see it all over social media - illustrators, artists or people that have started out so small and are now celebrating that they've quit their 9 to 5, and I hope one day that's me.

Explore Aimee's website

Get in touch

If you're a current or former Falmouth University student looking for support on a business idea, Marcus would be very happy to talk to you. Find out more.