You might imagine artists only live this way in films.

After immersing himself in the great outdoors for weeks at a time, Michael Sole returns to an attic studio to throw himself into creating giant works of art.

“I disappear for two and a half weeks or so to Scotland or wherever,” he says.

“I worked my way around the Isle of Skye with my fishing stuff and lived on fish. I love the whole survival sort of thing. The great thing about doing that is it you’re in nature all the time.”

After those weeks living wild and sketching extensively, he returns to a studio full of natural light near Bournemouth’s Lansdowne.

“I have no idea what my paintings are going to look like,” he admits.

Michael, 31, calls his approach to painting “involuntaryism”. After making enough frames to allow for plenty of painting, he will create for months at a time.

When we met, he had been painting for months.

“For six months, it’s been flowing out of me,” he said.

Each painting uses large quantities of paint to create big, textured images of spectacular landscapes and raging seas.

“I like the way paint works and how you can manipulate. I love what you can do with paint after you know its character and its quality," he says.

After weeks outdoors and months in his attic, it’s time to sell his work.

“In the summer, I mainly go around the country and try to promote myself as an artist,” he says.

He mainly puts on pop-up exhibitions in galleries and has had two exhibitions in London banks. He was recently given a solo show at the Mall Galleries, one of the biggest contemporary galleries in London.

At least 600 people tend to come through the doors during a two-week exhibition.

“Most of the time I paint in the winter as the weather outside, battering on the ceiling, really helps me create,” he says.

Born in Poole, Michael grew up in Lyme Regis and was inspired by the Jurassic Coast.

“I was 17 when I sold my first oil painting,” he says.

“There were these two canvases lying around. My mum had some oil paintings lying around because her brother was into painting. I picked up a brush and started painting.

“I took a few into my local art gallery in Lyme Regis. I showed him the pictures and he said he was very interested in having a look at my paintings.

“He said ‘How much do you want to sell them for?’ I said £750 a piece. He said ‘We’ll put £1,750 on them’ and within two days, they sold.”

He added: “It got me thinking that maybe there’s a chance this could work out as a career.”

Michael took a foundation course in art and design at what was then the Bournemouth Arts Institute before doing a degree at Wimbledon College of Art.

He is glad he committed himself to nothing but painting and selling his work.

“I’ve got plenty of friends who are artists and have better jobs, but I think it’s so important if you’re going to do it, you’re going to have to do it full time,” he says.

“I think I’ve been very lucky. It seems to keep flowing.”

Michael Sole’s work and details of forthcoming exhibitions can be seen at michaelsole.co.uk