"The World is my studio and my subject is Life."
Fàilte,
I'm C.nick a mainly self trained artist. I started seriously drawing at age nine and have never stopped. What got me into art were animated characters, then I started drawing my dogs in an animated style, after that one thing led to another and I started to draw more realistic portraits. Being an avid reader is what drove me to pursue more complex concepts. The very first "literary book" I read was the "Black Stallion" and it was the book that fuelled the obsession. "Beowulf" was my favourite at ten and was a starting point for me, giving me the idea of portraying my mental pictures in art. Through years I acquired more mediums and a love of history. Different cultures and eras were constantly being researched and experimented with. Now I've integrated my love for reading and research with my artistic expression.
I spend most of my time reading, I read anything from epic poems to children’s literature. I like learning about the Celts, their lore & people's research about them (I don’t always agree, but that makes me enjoy it even more). I have a Corgi, we use to do Agility but ‘cause of his joints he can’t do much now (he skateboards still). I play Chess & learn Tafl games & in my spare time I swordfight, shoot my bow, Scottish dance & Irish dance, they’re hobbies but I love ‘em.
I work as a Compositional and Portrait Artist. My original works use heavily researched histories, folklore, myth, and literature as subjects. My portraits are of both humans and animals and I also do dog agility portraits. I view portraits as a history of the soul, which is why I don’t only strive for the likeness, I strive for the soul. I work in multiple mediums but my main ones are oil paint, charcoal, graphite, silverpoint, watercolour and pastels.
Fun Fact: I’m a Synesthete (being one makes a big impact on my colour palette)
