Pierre Bonnard, one of Nicholas Verrall’s great heroes, said: “Draw your pleasure, paint your pleasure, and express your pleasure strongly.”
Clearly, Nicholas took that advice to heart. It’s hard to conceive of an artist whose work is more sensual than this modern master of landscape painting.
He was born in 1945, and studied fine art and printing at the Northampton School of Art. A short period working in picture conservation and restoration followed before demand for his paintings saw Nicholas become a full time artist from 1970. Success was virtually instant. His first one man show was held at the Upper Grosvenor Gallery in 1971, and it wasn’t long before Nicholas’s skill and talent was recognised by the Royal Academy exhibitions. His work has also been hung regularly by the Royal Society of British Artists since 1978.
Nicholas’s work is equally well thought-of in the private sphere and counts George Michael, the late Victoria Wood, Lesley Joseph, Gabby Roslin and others among his customers. Prints of his work have been sold by Ikea, WH Smith and the Art Group. Nicholas has also published a book called “Colour In Light And Oils” in 2008.
It’s good to pass it forward when you have looked back for inspiration. And Nicholas has talks a lot of his admiration for Bonnard, Matisse and Monet. And Edouard Vuillard, perhaps taking from him a lesson in composition. Vuillard said: “A painting that is well composed is almost finished.” And it’s definitely the case that the beauty in Nicholas’s work emerges as much from the spatial harmony as the colour and texture.
Nicholas’s work will transport you from Norfolk to Prague via Venice and Provence. But such is the utter joy of his work that wherever he takes you, it’s where you want to be.
Nicholas is an elected Member of the Royal Society of British Artists, and the Royal Institue of Oil Painters.
