David Short at his home in Henrico County. (Jonathan Spiers)
When David Short took up painting in his spare time six years ago, it wasn’t long before the UR grad’s hobby became a full-time pursuit.
The Henrico County resident had been enjoying his project development job with Southern Air, a regional design-build, mechanical and electrical contractor with corporate offices in Mechanicsville. But Short, 65, recently entered an early retirement to pursue his oil painting as a business.
As Short put it frankly: “My downtime became full-time.”
“I loved the company, loved the people, and I planned to work there for a while,” he said. “And then this art thing came along.”
A native of Emporia whose career, mostly in sales, included stints in radio production at local stations WRVQ and WLEE, Short picked up a paint brush in 2010 at the encouragement of his wife of 36 years, Kathy, who works in management for Richmond-based SIL Insurance.
“I was having a tough year on several levels,” Short said. “We’d become empty-nesters. My daughter had moved to Uganda – she’s a missionary there. And there were some other things going on in my life.”
Kathy signed him up for lessons at For Art’s Sake gallery, near the house they’ve called home for three decades. Short had taken a six-month art class when he was middle-school age, but he said he otherwise had never dabbled in art beyond coloring with their two kids when they were younger.
“Kathy knew, sitting here at this kitchen table using crayons with the kids, she thought that I had some potential that maybe I didn’t know that I had,” he said.
Photo by Jonathan Spiers.
In the six years since, Short has taken to his art and put enough oil to canvass to feel comfortable with cutting his career short and walking away from a job he said he’d still have otherwise.
“Without the oil painting, I would have continued to work,” he said.
“I might be busier than I was when I worked, frankly. I don’t want to sit around and watch daytime television all day. I enjoyed working, but to me, it was a dark abyss to retire and not have something to retire to.”
Since committing himself to his art, Short has taken what he learned from his career in sales and marketing and applied it to his pursuit, promoting pieces on social media and securing showings at local galleries. At his first show, at For Art’s Sake, he said 17 of the 23 pieces he showed sold – proceeds from which he gave to charities, as he does with nearly all of his work, he said.
“It was one of the most amazing days of my life. I was very humbled by it,” he said.
Focusing on landscapes and pictures he creates by combining photographs, Short said he paints nearly every day, for five to six hours,
“It’s a chance to express myself – a chance to escape,” he said of his art. “It’s almost like a drug for five hours, and I’m exhausted at the end of it. I sit down, I’m so focused, I put on headphones, I listen to ‘60s music – I call it the rabbit hole.”
Some of short’s paintings hung in his home. (Jonathan Spiers)
Though lately, the promotion and networking side has been taking up more of his time.
“It’s become a business,” he said. “It’s marketing – primarily Facebook and galleries. I market through my charitable work and through the art community. I think my business experience has helped me there.
While he gets that joy from painting, Short’s joy also comes from giving his proceeds to charities, such as Doors Ministries – his daughter’s nonprofit in Uganda – and other groups such as Scotland’s Starchild, which coincidentally, he said, is building a school in Uganda.
Short acknowledged that giving to charities may drive some of his sales, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I could take it and make it a revenue-generator, but I don’t want to die the richest man in the cemetery,” he said. “I want to do something I enjoy. I like to create. I want to create. I want to improve. I want to learn.”
For anyone else dreading retirement or who has recently discovered a passion or artistic outlet, Short offered some advice:
“Try it. Learn from others. Take classes,” he said. “Network among those involved in it. And don’t be afraid to continue to learn. Always be a student.”
Editor’s note: If you, a coworker or someone you know around town with an exciting or unique way of passing their time when off the clock, drop us a line at [email protected]. For previous stories from our ongoing Downtime series, click here.
David Short at his home in Henrico County. (Jonathan Spiers)
When David Short took up painting in his spare time six years ago, it wasn’t long before the UR grad’s hobby became a full-time pursuit.
The Henrico County resident had been enjoying his project development job with Southern Air, a regional design-build, mechanical and electrical contractor with corporate offices in Mechanicsville. But Short, 65, recently entered an early retirement to pursue his oil painting as a business.
As Short put it frankly: “My downtime became full-time.”
“I loved the company, loved the people, and I planned to work there for a while,” he said. “And then this art thing came along.”
A native of Emporia whose career, mostly in sales, included stints in radio production at local stations WRVQ and WLEE, Short picked up a paint brush in 2010 at the encouragement of his wife of 36 years, Kathy, who works in management for Richmond-based SIL Insurance.
“I was having a tough year on several levels,” Short said. “We’d become empty-nesters. My daughter had moved to Uganda – she’s a missionary there. And there were some other things going on in my life.”
Kathy signed him up for lessons at For Art’s Sake gallery, near the house they’ve called home for three decades. Short had taken a six-month art class when he was middle-school age, but he said he otherwise had never dabbled in art beyond coloring with their two kids when they were younger.
“Kathy knew, sitting here at this kitchen table using crayons with the kids, she thought that I had some potential that maybe I didn’t know that I had,” he said.
Photo by Jonathan Spiers.
In the six years since, Short has taken to his art and put enough oil to canvass to feel comfortable with cutting his career short and walking away from a job he said he’d still have otherwise.
“Without the oil painting, I would have continued to work,” he said.
“I might be busier than I was when I worked, frankly. I don’t want to sit around and watch daytime television all day. I enjoyed working, but to me, it was a dark abyss to retire and not have something to retire to.”
Since committing himself to his art, Short has taken what he learned from his career in sales and marketing and applied it to his pursuit, promoting pieces on social media and securing showings at local galleries. At his first show, at For Art’s Sake, he said 17 of the 23 pieces he showed sold – proceeds from which he gave to charities, as he does with nearly all of his work, he said.
“It was one of the most amazing days of my life. I was very humbled by it,” he said.
Focusing on landscapes and pictures he creates by combining photographs, Short said he paints nearly every day, for five to six hours,
“It’s a chance to express myself – a chance to escape,” he said of his art. “It’s almost like a drug for five hours, and I’m exhausted at the end of it. I sit down, I’m so focused, I put on headphones, I listen to ‘60s music – I call it the rabbit hole.”
Some of short’s paintings hung in his home. (Jonathan Spiers)
Though lately, the promotion and networking side has been taking up more of his time.
“It’s become a business,” he said. “It’s marketing – primarily Facebook and galleries. I market through my charitable work and through the art community. I think my business experience has helped me there.
While he gets that joy from painting, Short’s joy also comes from giving his proceeds to charities, such as Doors Ministries – his daughter’s nonprofit in Uganda – and other groups such as Scotland’s Starchild, which coincidentally, he said, is building a school in Uganda.
Short acknowledged that giving to charities may drive some of his sales, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I could take it and make it a revenue-generator, but I don’t want to die the richest man in the cemetery,” he said. “I want to do something I enjoy. I like to create. I want to create. I want to improve. I want to learn.”
For anyone else dreading retirement or who has recently discovered a passion or artistic outlet, Short offered some advice:
“Try it. Learn from others. Take classes,” he said. “Network among those involved in it. And don’t be afraid to continue to learn. Always be a student.”
Editor’s note: If you, a coworker or someone you know around town with an exciting or unique way of passing their time when off the clock, drop us a line at [email protected]. For previous stories from our ongoing Downtime series, click here.