From professional footballer at Torquay to full-time artist

ELEVEN JOHN TRICKETT OIL PAINTINGS UP FOR AUCTION

- By JAMES LAVERACK of John Taylors Auction Rooms, Louth

ELEVEN paintings by the remarkable Wintringham Grammar School boy turned professional footballer, turned forklift driver, turned internationally acclaimed artist John Trickett are to be auctioned in the June sale at The Mart.

Art was one of John's favourite subjects at school, as was football, but after leaving the grammar school, he actually began to train as an accountant. Torquay United came to the rescue and the 18 year-old teenager decamped to the south west for the life of a professional footballer, a life that involved training, playing - with some painting and drawing in his spare time.

Even at that stage there were buyers for his work but it was not until he returned to North East Lincolnshire - his playing days over and he was earning a living as a forklift driver - that things took off and he decided to take the plunge and become a full time artist. The trigger was the reaction to a solo exhibition at a local library. Every picture sold.

The rest as they say is history. John Trickett is today a much-admired artist whose work has been exhibited all over the world.