Skip to content

'I'm making money from my terrible paintings'

Listen on Sounds: Hear from the Alsager artist cashing in on his 'terrible' artwork

A budding artist says he has taken more than 40 paid commissions for what he admits are "terrible" paintings - and it all began after gifting his wife an iffy portrait on their wedding day.

Jamie Lee Matthias presented his bride with a poster-paint canvas on their special occasion in May 2024, which sparked their guests into hysterics - as the piece was excellent, if the artist was five years of age.

Since sharing the painting online recently, he has received numerous orders from the public in what has been the "craziest, insane week" for the family.

"It's bringing a smile to people's faces," the artist said of his work. "For the people that get it, it's a joke - it's very funny because the art's so bad."

terribleartbyjamielee Three images. Left, a man and woman stand in front of a Christmas tree and large grand window. The man is dressed in a black suit and bowtie with a white shit. The woman wears a full length, v-neck blue dress. She has long brown hair. The middle image is a painting bearing some resemblance to the image on the left. The colours are very garish and the man and woman appear to be very short. The image on the right shows the same couple in casual clothing. The woman is bent over laughing, holding a photograph. The man looks confused, holding a canvas. They stand in a white living room with French doors.terribleartbyjamielee
Mr Matthias described this recent commission as capturing "an alternate universe where proportions have no meaning"

Mr Matthias, from Alsager, lives in a creative household, regularly painting with his step-daughter and daughter, but they often tease him about his own artwork skills.

And they aren't the only ones to make fun. It turns out everyone at home is an art critic.

“It's just the most ridiculous thing you've ever seen,” his wife Kate said of the wedding day "masterpiece".

“We've had so much fun laughing at his inability to paint.”

Amid such feedback, though, the not-so-tortured artist wondered whether he might be missing a trick.

“I made a joke, because of the poor quality of my art, that I might start trying to sell it to make money."

A social media post later and he has received dozens of paid orders for personalised portraits.

terribleartbyjamielee Two images. Right, a man in a blue baseball cap, a woman in sunglasses and pink vest and a boy holding a dog stand close together. They are stood outside on a clear day with a large white sculpture of a horse’s head in stone towering behind them. Left, a crudely painted version of the same image with angular faces.terribleartbyjamielee
"It’s not about precision, who needs that when you're working in the realm of pure creativity?" Mr Matthias said of this family portrait

“It's been a week full of joy,” said Mrs Matthias, who is in charge of collating the orders. “I can't wait to see what he creates next.”

The rising artist has taken on the challenge of painting BBC Radio Stoke’s Lee Blakeman and has ambitions of painting local strongman, Eddie Hall.

"I think there's plenty of people out there that I could absolutely ruin a perfect picture of,” Mr Matthias said.

terribleartbyjamielee Three images. Left, man dressed in lederhosen and a woman dressed in similar German traditional clothing - a red and white checkered dress and white blouse. They are both wearing blonde wigs and are stood in front of large glass windows. Centre, a crudely painted version of the same scene, coloured with a very dark background paint. Right, the man in the photograph on the left is pictured holding the photograph and the painting while sitting on a chair with Christmas wrapping paper on his knees. He is wearing a red Christmas hat and smiling. There is a red sofa to his left and a star shaped clock on a blue wall.terribleartbyjamielee
"A lot of the people are buying them as gifts - I hope they've got a good sense of humour," the artist said

The creative dad has since been invited to run an art workshop at his step-daughter’s school, to "reassure" pupils their artwork "isn’t that bad", according to Heidi, 11.

But don't the critics of his unorthodox style sting, even a little bit?

Mr Matthias simply dismisses the naysayers. “They’re not my target audience,” he said.

Related stories
Related pages