Nick Andrew's Biography
| A selection of Nick Andrew's work | ||
 Creata Box Canvas |
 Tanacea Box Canvas |
 Fedara |
As a child I loved getting out and exploring the surrounding countryside where I grew up in the Vale of the White Horse in Oxfordshire. I would find secluded places and build secret dens on my own or with friends. I enjoyed the feeling of being immersed in the landscape. At home my parents would say that I 'lived in a world of my own' and my school reports would say that I spent a lot of time 'daydreaming out of classroom windows'. But what I was really doing was playing visual games and making pictures in my mind of the world around me. And I would doodle incessantly in the margins of my exercise books! That's what I did more than anything else as a child: drawing!
I went on to study art and design at Oxford Brookes, followed by graphic design at London College of Printing and then fine art at Cheltenham College of Art. Here I immersed myself in painting- still daydreaming, but making the daydreams real with shape and form and colour.
After leaving college I had a number of jobs to keep the wolf from the door but resented anything which kept me from painting. Winning the Lloyd's Bank Young Printmaker Prize in 1983 gave me a fabulous opportunity to work on a commission in the famous Curwen studio in London. It also gave me the funds to be able to concentrate on my painting for a while. I supplemented this with some part time teaching.
Since then I have exhibited my work in galleries throughout the UK and in Europe and have paintings in public and private collections throughout the world. I have worked on commissions for a wide range of locations, from cruise ships to hospitals. I have also continued teaching, which has become an important part of my life: it gives me a great feeling to see my students developing and finding their own individual ways of making art.
Ten years ago I moved to part of an old watermill by the River Wylye in South Wiltshire. This is my studio and home where I live with my wife Kate and daughter Millie. It is surrounded with water meadows, forest and downland. Everything I need is here: a perfect home, a wonderful family and a landscape that I can immerse myself in whenever I like!
I need to paint- it's a need in me that I have to fulfil on a daily basis. If I don't paint then I start to get twitchy. Kate says I'm hell to be with on holidays!
My main inspiration is the landscape immediately around my studio. I base most of my river paintings on the River Wylye which flows close by: a fresh chalk stream full of life and movement. I have got to know a 2-mile stretch of the river very well over the years- I know where to find particular plants and flowers, I know where the adders live and I know where the herons like to fish. There are still more and more things to discover, though, and I don't think I'll ever tire of it. It changes dramatically from hour to hour, day to day and season to season, giving me all the pattern, colour and movement I need.
I feel just the same about the nearby water-meadows and forest- I love the textures and movement of grasses, patterns of the wild flowers, rich contrasts between the dark trees and the mottled sunlight turning the leaf litter to gold.
I explore this landscape on a regular basis, drawing, painting and taking photos. Over the years I have built up a huge store of imagery which I can refer to for ideas.
There are a number of painters who I return to for inspiration- all of them were inspired by the English landscape, they include Samuel Palmer for the magical atmosphere he creates in his visionary landscapes, JMW Turner; for his obsession with light and colour and Ivon Hitchins for his gestural and abstract response to nature.
I can't wait to get started on a painting. This impatience means that rather than planning out the design beforehand, I tend to dash straight in. It's these early physical, spontaneous stages in making a picture that I enjoy the most.
I start with the canvas or paper on the studio floor and soak it thoroughly with a water spray. Then the fun begins: I load my paintbrush ( a 3- inch decorating brush ) with wet paint and swiftly cover the surface with big, bold blocks of colour which slowly diffuse and blend together. I have a preliminary idea in my mind of how I want the painting to turn out and I also have reference photos and sketches to hand, but it's in these initial stages, when the paint flows and merges across the canvas surface, that new possibilities suggest themselves and I often have to revise my plans.
Acrylic paints offer me all I need in a medium. They are incredibly versatile. At college I used them in mixed media with charcoal, oil pastels and collage. Since then I have used them to create watercolour washes, blocks of flat colour like a gouache, or heavy and impasto like oils.
Once the painting has dried I can re- wet it and apply more layers of transparent colour using gestural marks and strokes. Each painting is built- up through several stages like this before it goes up on an easel. At this point I can make an assessment of the design and make adjustments and additions, still using mostly decorating brushes of various sizes and conditions.
As I want my work to appear fresh and lively, I avoid overworking at any stage by always having other pieces of work on the go. I also let each painting 'rest' for periods of time between stages. This process can take anything up to a month, until eventually I can complete the piece with smaller marks and touches made with finer brushes.
We're a family of early risers, which is good thing for me, as the best time to go down to the river is just after the sun comes up- when the light is full of colour. The other good time is late afternoon or early evening.
On alternate mornings I go for a cross- country run which takes me along the riverbank and across the water meadows to the next village, then back through the woods. This is wonderful on summer mornings, but in the winter I often return caked in mud up to my knees!
On weekdays, Kate takes Millie to school at 8.30 then goes on to work. Kate works part- time at a children's nursery but paints, too, when she gets a chance! I call her my 'quality controller', as she's brilliant at giving feedback about my work- pointing out imperfections or, hopefully, giving the thumbs- up!
I try to be in the studio by 8.00 am and go through the ritual of scraping my palette, changing water pots and washing the brushes which I forgot to clean the day before! Before starting to paint, I review work in progress and, more often than not, shake my head and ask myself what on earth I was thinking of yesterday! Painting is a physical activity for me- I paint standing up and do a lot of walking around the work, or backwards and forwards to the easel. So it's good to sit down at lunchtime- often in the garden when the weather's fine. I will then work through until about 6.00pm, although usually there are other, more mundane things which I'd been putting- off and have to be fitted in, such as office work, preparation for teaching or making phone calls.
I like to listen to the radio or music when I'm working, although on an ideal day there would be Test Match Special on the radio and no other distractions!
Sometimes there is more to do in the studio or office in the evening, but normally our evenings are relaxed and may include: messing about in the garden, a walk to the pub, one or two glasses of wine, bedtime stories, watching a good film on TV, but not necessarily in that order!
