C&T Publications 50 States of Art - 2015 | Page 8

Nigel Wynter - Connecticut Nigel Wynter lives and works in Central Connecticut in the Northeastern United States. His formal Art training was at the School of Visual Arts in New York City majoring in Illustration. During the 1980s and 1990s he was an exhibiting Fine Artist for the most part, receiving numerous awards and mixing in Illustration projects and private commissions along the way. He has been a member of the Mt. Vernon Art Association, the New Rochelle Art Association and the Mamaroneck Artist's Guild. Since mid-2008 he has resumed painting full time after 21 years in the banking industry. Since moving from New York in 2007, Nigel has exhibited with the Stratford Artist’s Guild in Stratford, CT; the 2013 Bridgeport Arts Fest and Open Studio Hartford in Hartford CT in November 2013 and 2014, among others. Nigel paints mostly Still Life and Landscapes. Lately, however, he has been concentrating more on Portraits, and is currently working on a series of Sports figures, primarily baseball and football. He continues to accept commissions; renderings are done in Oil, Watercolor, Colored Pencil or Graphite. Web Sites: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nigel-wynter.html Here is my piece. It is called Ben. BACKSTORY REGARDING "BEN" (10.5" x 10.0" watercolor on paper) : This piece evolved from a summertime trip that myself, my wife and I took up to New Hampshire a few years ago. We stayed in a beautiful house in Keene, NH with some friends. As is my custom, I took several landscapes pictures - what I like to call "reference photos" for use as paintings later as a complement to any sketches that I did on site. During some downtime, I observed the young man depicted in the painting sitting on a low wall strumming on his guitar (his Mom is a family acquaintance). After completing the painting, I posted it on my Facebook business page here www.facebook.com/nigelwynterart, where his mother (whom I had not seen in years) happened to see it and commented that it looked just like her son, Ben "because he wears his hat just like that!". After I replied it was indeed her son, she proceeded to purchase 3 giclee' prints of the piece - one for Ben, who had an upcoming birthday, one for her mother, and one for herself - which was a nice surprise. Subsequently, I have sold another giclee' print of "Ben" which happens to be one of my personal favorites. Quick Note: The word giclée was adopted by print-maker Jack Duganne. It is based on the French word gicleur, which means "nozzle" (the verb form gicler means "to squirt, spurt, or spray"). He wanted a name for the new type of prints they were producing in a higher quality than standard inkjet printing. Unlike other printing processes, giclée, created with light-fast inks, does not have a visible dot screen pattern, and if kept out of direct sunlight the colors can remain true for up to 25 years. 3