ABOUT THE ARTIST
My dad was an artist. His story in a moment. It is as bizarre and lengthy as my crazy sports life. When I told my dad I would be an Olympic speed skater he laughed. But I eventually competed in three Olympic games. Once placing fourth with my team mates in the 5000m Olympic final by 0.8 of a second. I know.. bummer. The same team were New Zealand's only ever world ice skating champions and also world record breakers. I even once held the world 1500m. Then there was a whole bundle of other projects including a round the world record bike record but you can read more about that and more on my antics here.
I always loved art and my school reports reflect my passion. I did art as a high school subject I would often be found painting cricket heroes like Richard Hadlee It wasn't until around 2014 when I realised that the life of a primary school teacher was not for me and I told my dad I wanted to be an artist. He laughed but he got me rolling and I began by selling a few smaller works at cruise ship Markets in Dunedin. Now after thousands of hours of practice and applying the skills taught to me by my dad, I have sold thousands of pieces of work and I call myself a professional artist. Apart from extreme and crazy sports and adventures I love history and have done my 10 000 hrs on my guitar.
Anyway it was Peter Nicholson who taught met to paint watercolours. He inspired me and continues to do so to paint art. His art story is a bit more like my sports story here goes
Peter Nicholson
While the battle of Britain raged above ground Peter Nicholson was sketching and using his treasured 3 coloured pencils. A reliable and well-paid career as an insurance agent was the obvious path my grandparents intended for Peter In post-war London. But he told his parents he would become a professional artist. They laughed. He picked up a job at a dog's body doing basic tasks at a commercial art company. Dad would use his savings on after-work art classes and continued to improve eventually becoming a highly proficient commercial artist.By this time my aunty had emigrated to New Zealand. She said it was fab and Dad jumped with 4 kids and emigrated to the other side of the planet. By lunchtime on the first day, he had put workmates to shame with efficacy and skill. He felt obliged to slow down. The Big Ben pie cowboy icon belongs to Peter Nicholson. All throughout his professional career, Peter maintained a passion for watercolour work. Before too long he was leading the Whitianga art group. Peter Nicholson sold countless of works in galleries throughout New Zealand. He was also a fantastic mural painter with some incredible works throughout the country.
