easyJet pilot Darius donates painting to Unicef auction
A GUERNSEYMAN with no formal art training has had one of his paintings auctioned for hundreds of pounds.
EasyJet pilot Darius Rowland was commissioned by his employer to create a painting of their new flagship aircraft, the Airbus A321 NEO.
After completing the piece, which took him 20 hours, Mr Rowland decided to donate it to the company in order that it could be auctioned with the proceeds going to the Unicef charity.
The auction was open to more than 20,000 easyJet employees across the network.
A member of their engineering team got the winning bid of £550.
‘I felt honoured that the charity benefitted from something I had produced,’ said Mr Rowland.
‘So much so that I am currently undertaking another painting to be auctioned for children’s cancer charity, George and the Giant Pledge.’
Mr Rowland said he got his inspiration for the piece during one of his flights across Europe.
‘I did a flight from Milan over the Alps and the magnificence of this view inspired me to make it the background for the painting,’ he said.
‘I haven’t had any formal training such as going to art college or university. However, in Guernsey I studied Art A-level and GCSE Technical Drawing. Also I worked in the art studio at Guernsey Tobacco company in La Ramee for 13 years.’
Mr Rowland has been a pilot with easyJet for a number of years, as well as enjoying painting he is also a keen musician.
He was the drummer with local legends City Limits for over 10 years until his career took him to the UK.
n Darius enjoys painting a wide ranging subject matter, details of which can been seen on his website www.dariusrowlandart.co.uk
