I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with the one of Northern Ireland’s hidden artistic gems. Andi Oakes paints and sings with inspiration and motivation, here you will find out more about the man behind the aisle.

Born in Cornwall, Andi Oakes moved with his parents to Northern Ireland, and Lurgan at the tender age of two, his hometown ever since. Growing up in a town divided by faith he found himself wanting to be anywhere else but where he was. This however would change over time!

With love conquering the divide he tested himself and followed his heart in going beyond the limits of faith to meet and fall in love with the woman he is delighted to call his wife.

Andi tells me that he wasn’t always an artist, yes his family was artistic and very musical, but art only came later in life. He started off his professional career in sales, stating that even though he did enjoy it and worked with some wonderful people, it wasn’t where he wanted to go, but perhaps more a gesture in the direction to what others thought he should be doing. After many years in various sales roles, he tells me he had his eureka day! One day when he looked himself in the mirror, dressed in suit he found himself asking the reflection “who are you”? An event which he tells me would prove a turning point for him, throwing him into a period of intense personal reflection. He tells me that for about six months he read the bible in search for spiritual clarification, something which started his journey to become the person he is today.

This change took place around eight years ago, and was followed by a very stressful time where he questioned his right to step out of the role he was currently holding, being the main income earner and established in everyone’s eyes as a professional worker. The stigma of turning his back to what was seen as a good wholesome, money earning job was a hard nut to crack and he says he would not have been able to do so if it wasn’t for his wife and the support he received from his family and friends at the time.

He tells me that the one single event that made him make up his mind was the day when at a gig (Andi is also a very talented musician) a lady came up to him and out of nowhere said to him, that she just had this urge to tell him that he “shouldn’t be worried about the money”. This was to Andi the confirmation he required to take a leap of faith and he quotes “how will you ever know if you don’t try”, how very fitting.

What followed was his resignation from his job, something which he said, to his surprise, was more painless than he had expected as when he told his manager it was a vocational choice he got the most supportive reply.

After quitting his job, Andi and a friend travelled around Ireland and the UK singing and playing music, learning how to ride the wave and to inspire and help others through creativity. It was also once he left his job that he started to paint. Andi tells me that it was something he always liked but had never done anything about. He started of painting in oil, mostly abstract art, then one day it all changed.

He had bought a number of blank canvasses and as he started to paint something took over and he began to paint a background to a painting, and once that was done there they were! The angels started to appear and through systematically working with them he tells me that now they are the only thing he paints. The canvas or the angels will never let him go before it is completely finished.

The subjects are wonderfully moving, like moments in time! What you first see somehow changes as soon as you allow the emotion to come through and all of a sudden the scene starts to come through. I am not sure if it is my own artistic background that makes me so intrigued and inspired by them, but I sincerely believe that what Andi wishes to do with his art is to inspire and motivate the beholder, to give them hope, something which he speaks of on a number of occasions throughout our meeting.

In the midst of his deliberation came tragedy, when in 2006 his father passed away suddenly. It left not just himself but the family in state of shock, and it was followed by a dark period of depression for him. He says that it was his father’s last words to him that carried him through, that ultimately everything in life is about Gods love, and love was to become the deliberation to the depression and also make him realise that everyone has a purpose in life.

Though Andi creates his art from a religious basis, he says that no matter what religion you are of angels represent hope and that they are there to watch over us as a collective. His angel art is about change and the belief in humans to facilitate it!

You can purchase Andi’s angel art by contacting him through his website http://www.andioakes.net/apps/photos/. He also takes commissions.