A dream for many artists is surely to run a gallery and for one Kingston painter, Will Perkins, 38, this dream has become a reality. Gallery 63a, in Park Road, Kingston, only opened in March and but already local artists and artlovers have come out en masse to support the fledgling venture, and Perkins is delighted with the response.

He says: “We have had so much positive feedback because there is nowhere else like Gallery 63a in Kingston that gives local artists a chance to to show off their work and since opening I have been amazed by how many artists there are in the area.”

“All of the shops in Park Road are independent and although I have lived in Kingston for 20 years I am now getting to know everyone here by name and that has been really good.”

Occasionally Gallery 63a hosts solo exhibitions but usually visitors can enjoy artwork from a range artists in a variety of styles. Originally Perkins had planned to exclusively show contemporary art although he was quick to change this plan.

“We have a really eclectic mix of art because everyone has their own idea of what they like and what they don’t like,” he says.

“I originally didn’t want watercolours and paintings of flowers but that kind of work has been so fantastic and skilled that I just couldn’t say no. I have had to learn to relax about it quite quickly.”

Since studying fine art at Kingston University, Perkins has worked in catering while painting in his spare time but when the lease came up for the door shop below his Park Road flat he decided to take the plunge and set up his own gallery.

The efforts he and his partner Miriam Barhoum have put in to keep the gallery open are considerable - as well as opening its doors to the public from Monday to Saturdays (and “sunny Sundays”), Perkins stills works in catering in his evenings, as well continuing to paint new work in his studio at the back of the shop when he has a rare spare moment.

The gallery’s ethos is to provide a warm and friendly atmosphere for visitors to enjoy. If you drop in to Gallery 63a you are sure to be met by Perkins or Barhoum with a smile, a cup of tea and some sage artistic advice.

The art on display is available at a range of prices, from small prints and bowls from £5 to large original arts works at £1,000, and the gallery also offers a framing service and a tailored art scheme in which art buyers can get exactly the work they want from a favoured artist or in a favourite style.

Perkins adds: “We want to be a friendly, local gallery If you have a gallery where the person working there is stuck behind a computer and doesn’t say hello to you it is unwelcoming, so we try and be as friendly as possible - if people get a good vibe from a place they tend to come back.”

For more information about Gallery 63a, visit gallery63a.com