Hayley Lombard CA(SA) built a successful career in corporate finance before becoming a contemporary artist. Motherhood and COVID made her reconsider what success meant, but changing direction didn’t mean losing her professional identity. Accounting gave her the discipline to turn painting into a business. Art gave her the freedom to create. The two have far more in common than people think.
THE FIRST CANVAS Hayley Lombard bought was three metres long. It wouldn’t fit into her car, so she hired a delivery van to take it to her first art class. She’d never studied art, even at school, and had little idea what she would do with a canvas that size. ‘I think I had more audacity than ability,’ she says.
For about an hour, Lombard stood in front of it, mixing colours and stepping back as if considering her next move. In truth, she was putting off the moment when she’d have to begin. Eventually, she started throwing and splashing paint. ‘I didn’t feel impressive,’ she says. ‘I just felt alive.’
Lombard and her husband moved to Canada soon after they married, expecting to stay for a year. They remained for a decade, during which she built a successful career as a chartered accountant and CFO.
She enjoyed corporate life, particularly building businesses and developing people. After becoming a mother, however, she became more aware of the cost of long hours. Meeting a late deadline could mean missing bedtime with her children.
A SMALL YES
COVID made her question what she wanted from her career. Lombard accepted a consulting assignment that was meant to last two weeks. Instead, she had to lay
off hundreds of people, including the person who had hired her.
She and her husband had a newborn and two toddlers, and her father-in-law was critically ill in South Africa. Unsure whether they’d see him again, they decided to return home. They had a week to pack as countries began closing their borders. They expected to stay for six months. Six years later, they’re still in South Africa.
Soon after returning, Lombard reconnected with a close friend who told her, ‘You’re so creative. You should paint.’ Lombard responded with what she calls ‘a small yes’.
‘Somewhere along the way, as happens to a lot of us, achievement became essential and creativity became optional,’ she says. ‘She reminded me that I’d forgotten something.’
Lombard began by painting for her own home. When visitors asked to buy the works on her walls, she assumed they were being polite. When they called the next day, she realised they were serious.
The business grew from those first sales. Lombard now works from a studio on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast. Her paintings are held in private collections in South Africa and abroad and she has completed commissions for hospitality venues and companies including Investec and Holland Insurance Brokers.
The coastal landscape influences her use of light and movement. She works with plaster, pigment, charcoal and glazes, building each painting in layers. She starts without a fixed idea of how the work will turn out and leaves viewers to decide what it means to them.
STRUCTURE MEETS FREEDOM
Working without a predetermined outcome may seem far removed from accountancy, but Lombard sees a clear connection. Accountants seldom have perfect information. They test assumptions, use judgement and make sense of complex information.
Technical knowledge provides the foundation, but original thought remains important.
Her CA(SA) background also determines how she works and runs her business. It taught her to handle pressure, solve problems and maintain high standards.
‘I don’t feel as though I left accounting behind,’ she says. ‘It prepared me for everything I needed.’
She doesn’t see art and accounting as opposing ways of thinking. ‘One brings structure and the other brings freedom. I need both.’
The two came together in Butterfly Effect, a large-scale work commissioned by Investec for its Sandton head office. The painting explored how small, deliberate actions can have far-reaching consequences. A film crew recorded Lombard at work from sunrise to sunset. Used to painting alone, she initially found the cameras distracting and imagined she was speaking to a close friend. Investec screened the film at an awards ceremony at Sun City before unveiling the painting and presenting limited-edition prints to its top seven employees.
‘The work was about the ordinary, consistent decisions we make throughout our days, including those no one sees, and the extraordinary impact they can ultimately have,’ Lombard says.
She hadn’t intended to paint butterflies but noticed them when she stepped back from the finished work. The commission also made her think about how her art career had developed.
‘Mine was not one bold action or decision. It was one conversation, one little brushstroke and a series of small yeses.’
CREATIVITY AT WORK
Lombard has also brought art into the workplace. During a strategy workshop, employees each produced a canvas. She combined them into one large artwork for the company’s boardroom.
Her interest in creativity at work later became the focus of her TEDx talk. She painted on stage as she spoke, showing the audience the uncertainty involved in producing a work. Actor Denim Richards, who attended the event, later bought the finished painting.
‘My TEDx talk was less about becoming an artist than about giving people permission to create, play and be fully themselves,’ she says.
Lombard believes creativity helps accountants question assumptions, connect information and find practical answers. As technology automates more routine financial work, accountants will add value through their judgement and ability to explain what the numbers mean for a business.
She now plans to produce more large-scale work, collaborate with organisations and help younger South African artists reach wider markets.
‘Our qualification opens extraordinary doors, but it doesn’t define the limits of our identity. The discipline, resilience and analytical thinking it develops prepare us for countless paths. We don’t need to choose between logic and creativity. I think the most meaningful lives make room for both.’
Seven things Hayley Lombard learnt from changing direction
- Let your idea of success change
Success can mean different things at different stages of life. You can value what you’ve achieved while choosing work that suits who you are now.
- See your qualification as a foundation
A qualification gives you knowledge, discipline and professional skills that you can use throughout your career.
- Make time for your other abilities
Work and achievement can demand much of your attention. Give your other interests and abilities time to develop.
- Begin before you feel ready
Take the first step and learn as you go. Experience builds confidence and helps you decide what comes next.
- Take your skills with you
Skills gained in one career can help you build another. Discipline, judgement and problem-solving remain useful when the work changes.
- Use creativity at work
Creativity helps you question assumptions, connect ideas and find practical answers. Accountants use it more often than they may realise.
- Combine structure with freedom
Structure helps you work consistently and run a business. Freedom gives you room to try new ideas. You can have both.
Author
Monique Verduyn
