I’m a builder but earn £25,000 a WEEK from unusual busyness in my garden… I have so many celebrity fans I’m struggling to keep up
A RETIRED builder has traded his hammer for a paintbrush and become an unlikely art superstar.
Steve Camps, 67, only started painting last February and has never had any training, but has been dubbed ‘The Prince of Whales’ for his signature ocean-themed artwork.
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He now sells more than £25,000 a week and boasts famous fans, among others Dawn French and newsreader Cleef Myrie.
Speaking from his makeshift studio in what was once his builder’s garden, wedged between rows of bungalows in the seaside town NewquaySteve admits that he was initially too embarrassed to sign his work.
But he is now struggling to keep up with demand from as far away as possible Australia and the USA.
He told The Sun: “At first I didn’t want to put my name on my paintings because if people look at them and say what rubbish your name is on them, I don’t want that.
“I thought everyone would laugh at me. Well, they’re not laughing now.
“It was crazy when the auctioneers told me who had bought my paintings, it has just taken off.
“I don’t feel like one artistwhat i do is paint whales.
“I’ve never had any training and I’m not trying to make a bold statement. I’ll just get on with it.
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“I still work in my builders gardenbut now it is chock full of paintings and frames.
“I didn’t start with the grand idea that I was going to sell hundreds or thousands of paintings, it just happened.”
Instead of posh art stores, Steve shops for materials from trade suppliers Howdens and Sons of Jews and makes most of the frames itself.
He admits that the best thing about being an artist is not having to climb on a roof in the rain.
He said: “It’s nice not to actually have to go on the roof.
“As a builder you are always under pressure from customers, if something goes wrong you have to solve it.
It’s nice not to actually have to go on the roof
Steve Camps
“I woke up one rainy day and wondered, ‘What am I going to do with the guys I employ?’
“But now I just come here, sit in my studio and think, ‘What am I going to do?’
“I liked construction and I enjoyed it, but some jobs are good and some are not.
“I know all the guys in Jewsons and Howdens where I got my materials from. I buy damaged plywood panels from them to paint on.”
50 years on the tools
Steve’s 50-year career began when he left school and started working for his father as an apprentice painter and decorator.
He learned carpentry and bricklaying on the job before becoming a builder.
He has always been an art lover, but despite his own work now being more valuable than anything in his collection, he still has no paintings of his own in his home.
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His inspiration for painting the marine mammals came after he bought two paintings of whale ships while on vacation.
He said: ‘I have always loved collecting paintings, but now my photographs are worth more than all the photographs I have collected in my life.
“If I couldn’t paint a whale anymore, I wouldn’t know what to do. I could paint a sheep, but I would probably only get a few farmers interested.
If I couldn’t paint a whale anymore, I wouldn’t know what to do. I could paint a sheep, but I would probably only get a few farmers interested
Steve Camps
“I’ve also done pigs, which went well, and I’ve had assignments for cats and rabbits, but then I always go back to whales.
“I can do it with my eyes closed now.”
Steve contacted Falmouth-based gallery owner Tabby Booth to sell his prints, but after purchasing the first set on day one, he has been working hard ever since to keep up with demand.
His unexpected creative success has drawn comparisons to Fishermen’s friends – the singing fishermen from nearby Port Isaac who were signed by Universal Music after they were spotted singing sea shanties to tourists.
They reached number nine in the UK album charts.
Steve joked about the comparison: “I love Fisherman’s Friends, but they can’t paint and I can’t sing, so we have to stick to our own journeys.”
“It helps to live in it Cornwall because if I lived in the middle of it Newcastle I don’t think any of this will get off the ground. Maybe it’s romanticized.
“I don’t take this too seriously, I find it funny. If it were all over tomorrow, I would just keep going.”
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Are you taxed on additional income?
MANY households do a variety of side hustles, such as babysitting or setting up an eBay store, to boost their income.
And luckily you can take advantage of a ‘trading allowance’, which means you don’t have to pay tax on annual gross income of £1,000 or less.
However, if you earn above the £1,000 threshold you will need to declare this to HMRC.
You can claim a trade deduction via Self-Assessment on the government website.
First you need to let them know that you are a sole proprietorship and tell them how much you earn in income, when you started and who you are.
HMRC will then send you a UTR number, which you can use to file a tax return yourself.
The tax year runs from April 6 to April 5 of the following year, and the deadline for payment is the following January 31.