Nicholas verrall biography

Bio.
Nicholas Verrall is one of the UK’s most respected contemporary figurative painters.
Nicholas Verrall (British, b.

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Nicholas Verrall graduated in Fine Art & Printmaking at Northampton School of Art, gaining his degree in 1965. A short period working in picture conservation and restoration followed before demand for his paintings saw Nicholas become a full time artist from 1970. His first one man show was held at the Upper Grosvenor Gallery in 1971. This was followed by regular exhibitions at Seen Gallery, Belgravia. He was first hung at the RA in 1976 and subsequently eleven times after that.

During the late 1970’s/80’s Nick started making prints at the Curwen Studios in association with the Royal Academy Graphics, exhibiting in the Royal Academy Upstairs Gallery and the Royal Society of Etchers and Engravers. Throughout the 1990’s to the present date Nicholas has had regular solo exhibitions at the Catto Gallery, Hampstead. His work has also been included in many major art fairs, including the International Arts Fair, Olympia & the 20th Century British Art fair, London. His work has been exhibited widely in the UK and also in France, Hong Kong, Japan and America.

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Nicholas Verrall employs a whole range of artistic techniques in the development of each piece, including colour blending, glazing, brushwork effects, impasto and finally a layer of varnish to protect and lift the whole image. These so-called tricks of the trade reflect an accomplished painter, whose mastery over his medium means that he can concentrate on capturing the overall sentiment of the scene.

"In all my paintings, whether the subject happens to be a Provençal landscape, a balcony crowded with potted plants, a quiet interior or a Venetian antiques shop, invariably there two elements that interest me most – light and colour. I am constantly fascinated by the way that a certain quality of light can radically alter the character and impact of a subject and make it something unique, and it is this moment of 'uniqueness' that I try to capture in my paintings through the considered use of colour." (Nicholas Verrall – Introduction to 'Colour and Light in Oils')

Nicholas’s subject matter evocatively let us enter world far from the daily grind of ci

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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 lush and sensual than this modern master of landscape painting.

Such is the admiration – and demand – for Nicholas’s wonderful work that he’s back for his ninth exhibition with the Catto Gallery. And how appropriate that his new show comes just as nature is giving us hints of the summer to come. This is an artist whose paintings radiate with the heat of spring and summer. In the new collection, look at ‘Room with Spring Flowers’, ‘Grand Canal, June’ or ‘Luncheon in the Meadow’ and you’ll feel simply transported.

It’s easy to love paintings like this. Not just because we want to be in them (let’s face it, we’d all like to picnic forever in a Provencal field in June) but because their delicate beauty is simply a treat for the eyes. Only a supreme craftsman can achieve such sensuality in his work, and Nicholas delivers because of great natural