Jack Vettriano grew up in the industrial seaside town of Methil, Fife. He left school at 16 and later became an apprentice mining engineer. Vettriano only took up painting as a hobby in the 1970s, when his girlfriend bought him a set of watercolours for his 21st birthday.[1] His earliest paintings, under the name "Jack Hoggan", were copies or pastiches of impressionist paintings – his first painting was a copy of Monet's Poppy Fields. Much of his influence came from studing paintings at the Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery in neighbouring Kirkcaldy. In 1984, Vettriano first submitted his work to the shell-sponsored art exhibition in the museum,Vettriano's breakthrough year was 1988, when he felt ready to display his paintings in public and submitted two canvases for the Royal Scottish Academy annual show. Both paintings sold on the first day and Vettriano was approached by several galleries who wanted to sell his other work. The success and attention contributed to the breakdown of his first marriage and he moved to Edinburgh, changing his name to Vettriano, adding an "a" to his mother's maiden name.Tags:landscape oil painting, canvas painting, western oil paintings, glass paintings,