Paint what you love.
Nigel Fox, artist, most recently turned to the City of Prince George as the subject of his work.
It started when he became aware that he let the use of his artistic talent lapse.
“Recently when I was back in Prince Rupert where I grew up, I was drawing some scenery and landscapes because I have been trying to get back into the habit of things and I just had a sense that my Dad was next to me and we were just quietly sketching together like when he was alive and it was quite a feeling and I feel like that encouraged me,” Fox said.
Albert Fox, an Ojibwe artist and Nigel’s Dad, passed away in 2012.
“Without thinking consciously of it when I got back to Prince George I got up on New Year’s morning at 5 a.m. and I just had to paint,” Fox said.
He started with his version of an old Renaissance painting by Georges de la Tour called The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame.
“It’s a high contrast art form and it’s so powerful,” Fox said.
As he continued to experiment Fox said his pastor at Gateway Church, Kimi Orton, has been very encouraging.
“I have to give her credit for a lot of that because she is so humble and so encouraging of developing artists,” Fox said. “She gets us to paint items for the sanctuary to display for the congregation. Just the development that has come from that is phenomenal. It’s not only forced me to put together some pieces that were very thoughtful, they were also blessings to myself just to not let that opportunity pass.”
That was what motivated him to take action and paint Prince George cityscapes.
“So a few weeks ago I just started to paint normal Prince George scenes that may not have gotten attention if they weren’t painted,” Fox said.
“I posted those online and a lot of people were liking them and this whole thing with Trump and the tariffs came up and people started posting online to buy local, buy Canadian and I thought ‘hey, wait a minute!’ I wasn’t planning on riding a trend right now but this is like the perfect opportunity for that because my art is local and I am a local artist and it’s about local scenes. Does it really get any more local than that?”
The works are impressionist paintings that capture Prince George at its best.
“I have been at this for years and it really comes back to the development in my childhood and in my adult years, with the encouragement of my Dad and then my pastor,” Fox said. “And you just have to trust and develop the vision.”
He uses mostly acrylics and most of his pieces are on wood or canvas.
“I have been highly inspired by a number of different artists – Mike Svob and Nicholas Bott - and I am always developing my craft,” Fox said. “I’ve been to a few Mike Svob workshops and I had the chance to get a Nicholas Bott painting a few years ago for a reasonable price so I have that as a study reference as well.”
Since Fox posted some of his Prince George paintings online he’s had some commission requests and wants to put it out there that if anyone wants their neighbourhood scene painted he would be happy to do that.
“Or if they want me to do a picture of their house and I can do that, too,” Fox said.
“I’ve been looking for ways to make this work for years. I think it’s awesome to see Prince George in a different way that maybe people didn’t see before and I want to share that.”
For more information visit www.nigelfoxartworks.com/.
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