Nick's bold and vibrant abstracted landscape paintings on glass are inspired by the natural beauty of both Scotland and Australia. By painting in this medium, he creates artwork with strong luminescent colour, evoking the impact of his chosen landscapes. The natural drama of the islands and the sea are his favourite subject matter.
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Nick is a highly experimental artist and he has developed his technique for painting on glass over several years using different paints and tools. He works on the reverse of the glass, working backwards from the first layer and building up more layers to create depth using a variety of mainly oil based paints. By varying the drying time between layers (typically between 8 hours and several days), this allows him to create texture and effects to enhance his paintings on glass.
Once a painting is complete, it is framed and backed with white mount board which allows the light to reflect through the painting where the paint is kept most transparent, creating a luminosity of colour unique to Nick's style of painting.
Artist Biography
In 2004, after a successful career in the insurance industry, Nick Giles retired allowing him to pursue his creative leanings, which, until then, had focused on interior and garden design in his spare time.
Under the tutelage of Joan Lawson, the well-known Ayrshire artist, at Robinwood Art School in Ayr, he immersed himself in the pain and the pleasure of learning to paint. His enthusiasm and latent talent saw Nick develop his own painterly style in a remarkably short time, and requests and commissions for his work soon followed. Nick then saw that an artistic career was a realistic prospect.
As many artists, past and present, draw on Arran's beauty and wildlife to inspire them, so it is with Nick, whose character is reflected in his interpretation of his surroundings in his bold, colourful, vibrant and sometimes humorous work. Nick also cites the Scottish Colourists J.D. Fergusson and F.C. Cadell as his biggest influences.
