From an early age Welch's aptitude for art was evident, and in his journals he recalls his first still life (holly and beech leaves), completed when he was nine.
However his enrolment at Goldsmith's came initially out of his family's desire that he do something with his life after his return from China, any sort of activity associated with business evidently being ruled out of the question.
It was through a fellow student that Welch sold his first artwork: a view of Hadlow Castle to Shell for a series of lorry posters featuring landmarks.
It is now on display at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, Hampshire.
He later failed to sell a painting of Lord Berners to its subject, but the experience generated a short story.

Common themes in his art include objets d'art, cats, still lifes (often incongrously juxtaposed) and assorted gothick motifs, often in a fantastical landscape, although not in one of his most famous works, The Coffin House (1946) depicting a locally-renowned dwelling, north of Hadlow, Kent.
Welch exhibited his artwork at the Leicester Galleries.
Other exhibitions followed, in The Redfern Gallery and the Leger Gallery.

In May 1945, Welch restored an 18th-century Georgian doll's house from 1783, which was given to him by his friend, Mildred Bosanquet.
The doll's house is on display at the V&A Museum of Childhood, department of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Opinions on Welch's artworks have varied widely: amongst his biographers, Michael De-la-Noy and James Methuen-Campbell consider him to be underrated; in Robert Phillips' view his paintings are "lightweight" and his drawings "fussy and shallow".
For Jocelyn Brooke, had he been a painter merely, and not also a writer, "it is doubtful... whether he would be remembered at all."
Reviewing a reissue of the Journals, writer Alan Hollinghurst found in Welch's self-portraiture (of which there are several examples; one is in the National Portrait Gallery) a tendency to "amplify the over-riding concern of his writing to fix his youth forever while he accelerates towards death."
From an early age Welch's aptitude for art was evident, and in his journals he recalls his first still life (holly and beech leaves), completed when he was nine. However his enrolment at Goldsmith's came initially out of his family's desire that he do something with his life after his return from China, any sort of activity associated with business evidently being ruled out of the question. It was through a fellow student that Welch sold his first artwork: a view of Hadlow Castle to Shell for a series of lorry posters featuring landmarks. It is now on display at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, Hampshire. He later failed to sell a painting of Lord Berners to its subject, but the experience generated a short story.
Common themes in his art include objets d'art, cats, still lifes (often incongrously juxtaposed) and assorted gothick motifs, often in a fantastical landscape, although not in one of his most famous works, The Coffin House (1946) depicting a locally-renowned dwelling, north of Hadlow, Kent. Welch exhibited his artwork at the Leicester Galleries. Other exhibitions followed, in The Redfern Gallery and the Leger Gallery.
In May 1945, Welch restored an 18th-century Georgian doll's house from 1783, which was given to him by his friend, Mildred Bosanquet. The doll's house is on display at the V&A Museum of Childhood, department of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Opinions on Welch's artworks have varied widely: amongst his biographers, Michael De-la-Noy and James Methuen-Campbell consider him to be underrated; in Robert Phillips' view his paintings are "lightweight" and his drawings "fussy and shallow". For Jocelyn Brooke, had he been a painter merely, and not also a writer, "it is doubtful... whether he would be remembered at all." Reviewing a reissue of the Journals, writer Alan Hollinghurst found in Welch's self-portraiture (of which there are several examples; one is in the National Portrait Gallery) a tendency to "amplify the over-riding concern of his writing to fix his youth forever while he accelerates towards death."
Denton Welch