Just over a decade ago Ed ‘Swarez’ made a living by delivering parcels. His days were long, and his job satisfaction was almost non-existent. Then one day everything changed.

In July 2007 Ed ‘Swarez’ – a nickname given to him by a close friend many years ago – was running a weekly ladies’ self-defence class. He’d spend most Saturday mornings getting bruised and battered and thrown to the floor. “Out of nowhere the class decided that the following week we should all stop, get in touch with the gentler side of ourselves and use our lesson time to paint instead. I’d never painted before and hated art lessons at school, so I was a bit dubious as to how I’d get on. I absolutely loved it and knew from that very moment that I wanted to become an artist,” said Ed.

After quitting his delivery job Ed convinced a friend he could help him out by building a website for him. “I hated driving the delivery van, anything was better than that. I began studying Search Engine Optimization, HTML and PHP programming while being employed by a friend who ran his own business. I survived on four hours sleep a night, it was all I could spare. I kept spending any spare or saved money on materials and managed to find a studio to work in. That’s when I started to feel like I was making progress,” said Ed.

Then came the big decision. Would Ed stay in his comfortable, well paid job or take the gamble and dedicate every waking hour to pursuing his dream? Ed continued: “I’d made my mind up, I wanted to be a full-time artist. I had to dedicate myself to it with everything I had. It was a huge decision, but life is short, I took the gamble and told myself to dedicate myself to achieving my goal of becoming a professional artist.”

Fast forward to 2018 and Ed is now working in a specially built studio in Stroud and travelling the country selling his work. Ed continued: “I’ve had no training, I’m completely self-taught. It’s been a tough journey and I’ve had to sacrifice a lot, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Art is my life, I love what I do, and I could never see myself returning to a Monday-Friday job. Since picking up that paint brush all those years ago I’ve had an absolute determination to not give in. It’s been a long journey, with plenty of lessons learned and mistakes made.”

Ed’s abstract art is a mesmerizing blend of colours and shapes. He works on large canvasses, which he says best showcases his talent. Ed continued: “I’ve always been fascinated by colours. From the very beginning I’ve had the desire to paint large paintings, I can’t explain why I just felt I needed to go big to make them worthy of the effort that went in to them.

“I’m a big believer in offering a friendly, personable service. Modern art is for everyone and I believe access to the artist goes with that. I’m more than happy to answer emails, take telephone calls or open my gallery for a visit. I love to meet the people who buy my work, often I will hand deliver a canvas.”

Ed’s determination and passion for his work is evident. His desire to achieve his goals are what fuels him. “There’s no point working hard then slacking off. You’ve got to keep going, sustaining the workload. I love the fact that no two days in this job are ever the same. I spend a lot of time in the studio creating new pieces, but I can often be found out and about delivering my works to buyers. That’s the best part of the job, meeting people who have supported me and purchased one of my pieces. You never lose that buzz of securing a sale. As much as I love what I do it would be pretty pointless if I wasn’t selling my art.”

The dream for any artist is to sell their work for a huge sum, and Ed is no different. “That’s the aim but I don’t tend to think about it like that. I love what I do, things are going well at the moment and I’m really happy.”