Credit Controller Revives Artistic Skills to Decorate Walls at Principle’s Headquarters

A credit controller at Principle Estate Management has fulfilled what were her original artistic ambitions by painting a total of five pictures for the company’s headquarters in Birmingham.

Jodie Johnson’s works are based on nearby waterside scenes of the Gas Street basin, picturing bridges, barges and neighbouring buildings along the canals that meet in the city centre.

Principle founder and joint managing director Brett Williams commissioned the acrylic paint on canvas pictures, which each measure 1m x 1.2m, after regularly seeing how well she could paint. Mr Williams said:

“Jodie’s obviously an important member of our team as the credit control manager, but I was always impressed when I saw some examples of her artistic talents. We now have additional office space at our headquarters on Newhall Street in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter and I was keen to commission some unique artwork that reflected the local area. I walk to work on many days along canalside paths and just love some of the scenes I pass, regularly taking photographs. I asked Jodie if I could commission her talents to capture some of the best scenes on canvas to decorate the extra wall space in our offices, and everyone here at Principle is thrilled with the wonderful results.”

Although Principle bought all the paint and materials needed, Mrs Johnson declined any payment for her art, and so the company donated £250 to British Red Cross, its charity of the year, as a gesture of appreciation. 

Mrs Johnson, who has worked at Principle for the last three years, is a mother of three from Cannock, and was once a student of Fine Art and Figurative Sculpture at Staffordshire University. She explained how she had left art behind for her career in property finance but had started to paint again after having her young family.

Mrs Johnson, aged 38, said:

“I had all sorts of artistic aspirations when I was younger and even studied fine art for a while before developing my career. I then started to paint again in some spare time I had while on maternity leave and have continued to occasionally produce art, but only when I had specific reasons to motivate myself. The space in the office and the vision that Brett had for filling it with art based on his photos of local scenes was really inspiring, and so I challenged myself to produce the new paintings. I experimented with a technique using a simple bank card for applying most of the paint, resulting in almost carved images that really stand out, and I’m really happy with the results.”

Mrs Johnson added:

“We all work together here at Principle so I didn’t want any payment for my works, but it’s great seeing them on the walls every day and I’m so glad that British Red Cross has now benefitted from the company’s donation.”