A deputy headteacher earning £50,000-a-year decided to give up his career to follow his passion.
David Barber decided to dedicate all his time to become an artist after selling off his three-bed semi in Newcastle-under-Lyme, moving into a smaller and almost derelict house in the village of Hankelow, near Audlem, Cheshire. Despite taking such a massive risk which many would be too scared to do, the 54-year-old has become a massive success - even selling his paintings across the world.
Before becoming a successful artist, Favid had worked as a maths teacher for almost 20 years. However, he held a degree in art and worked as a commercial artist before entering the classroom, Cheshire Live reports.
Speaking about the major career change, David said: "It's something I've been thinking about for years now. We bought a house in Hankelow.
"It was in a right state, and over the past five years we've been renovating it with the plan of getting rid of the mortgage and leading us to this position where I could get rid of the mortgage."
Despite no longer pursuing a career in teaching, David still likes to blend his teaching experience by offering art courses in his local area. He helps to guide his adult student from doing simple drawings to making realistic oil paintings.
"I was due to retire next year. I could have waited until I was 55 and picked up a teacher's pension, but, as my wife pointed out last year, getting myself established in anything is going to take a long time, especially with something I'm doing, it's quite niche."
He continued: "There's a guy in Australia who has been collecting my paintings, he now has three of them. I've got one painting that went to Thailand, and quite a few paintings that have gone to the USA, maybe half a dozen have gone there."
While David no longer teaches children, he still likes to use his skills to teach adults art. "I really enjoy teaching. Teaching children is quite challenging, but I really enjoy teaching the adults.
"They're so enthusiastic and it's a really friendly group of people. I want to make more of it if I can." Now, David hopes to work with a wider breadth of people, by teaching in other nearby areas such as Nantwich - a four-mile drive from his home.
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